Congress General Secretary and Telangana incharge, Digvijaya Singh has demanded CBI enquiry into the recent land scam in Miyapur and alleged that the Minister for Animal Husbandary, T. Srinivas Yadav was involved in it and should be removed from the cabinet immediately.
Speaking to reporters here on Thursday, Mr. Singh said the Congress doesn’t have the confidence in the Government in unearthing the land scam of thousands of crores as it was siphoned off with the involvement of people in the Government. “Only CBI enquiry can unearth the scam and we don’t mind even if the previous Congress regimes were also included in the enquiry,” he said.
Mr. Singh said the Chief Minister, K Chandrashekara Rao, has only transferred the officials involved in the scam but people at the top were not touched. He alleged that Mr. Rao needs people like Mr. Srinivas Yadav for collecting money and he will be let off similarly like those involved in the Nayeem’s case. “So we demand a CBI investigation to catch the people who have robbed the State of thousands of acres worth thousands of crores,” Mr. Singh said adding that he wanted to know what happened to 83,000 hectares of leftover land secured under the Bhoodan movement.
No alliance with TDP
Mr. Singh ruled out any truck with the Telugu Desham Party (TDP) in the next elections stating that TDP had become irrelevant in Telangana while the Congress was fighting with it in Andhra Pradesh. “As of now we will contest all the 119 seats in the next elections,” he said adding that Congress would welcome anyone from any party as a part of party’s strengthening.
He reiterated his charge that communal elements in both Hindus and Muslims were working together for their electoral benefits. The recent tour of BJP President, Amit Shah in Telangana got lot of media hype but it could not make any impact. While there was a talk of MLAs and other leaders joining BJP not even lower level cadre have joined. He accused Mr. Shah of visiting only to polarize the people for electoral gains.
Cow slaughter rules
Mr. Singh said ban on cow slaughter was a state subject and the Central Government was imposing its ideology on the States. He said in principle the Congress was also against cow slaughter and Acts were passed in several States when Congress was also in power. First there should be a clear definition of what is beef as people also eat buffalo meat as well and there is no opposition to it. The Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijju also eats beef and so do many BJP leaders in the north eastern states.
On the Presidential elections, he said it was the responsibility of the Prime Minister to initiate discussion with the opposition parties as has been the practice. “We are waiting for it and will decide on how the Government proceeds,” he said. TPCC Vice President, Mallu Ravi was also present.
