Even as YSR Congress president and Member of Parliament from Kadapa YS Jaganmohan Reddy on Sunday completed one year in jail, his burgeoning corruption case claimed two more members of the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet.
Governor ESl Narasimhan on Sunday accepted the resignations of State Home Minister P Sabita Indra Reddy, and Road and Buildings Minister Dharmana Prasad Rao on the recommendation of Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy.
The two Ministers figure in CBI chargesheets in the Jagan’s disproportionate assets case. The only son of former Chief Minister late YS Rajasekhara Reddy was arrested by the CBI on May 27 last year and is lodged in Chanchalguda jail of Hyderabad since then. His several bail petitions have been rejected by all courts — the special CBI court, High Court and the Supreme Court. The CBI, which has filed five different chargesheets on various aspects of the massive case, has strongly opposed Jagan’s release on bail saying he can try to influence the witnesses and damage the evidence if he comes out of jail.
Jagan, who spends most of his time in his special cell in the jail reading books including Bible and newspapers, was busy in charting out the strategy for his fledgling party and also choosing candidates for the coming lok Sabha and Parliamentary elections. This is first time that a high-profile politician in the State had to spend such a long time behind the bars in a case of corruption.
Chief Minister Reddy sent the resignation of the two tainted Ministers after much dragging of feet. While Dharmana Prasad Rao had sent his resignation in August last year after he was named as accused no. 5 in chargesheet no. 4 for his alleged role in allocation of whopping 20,000 acres of land for a dubious project to a private sector company.
State’s first woman Home Minister Sabita Reddy had resigned earlier this month after the CBI named her accused no. 4 in chargesheet no. 5 accusing her of irregularities in giving mining lease to Dalmia Cements.
The CBI claimed that the two Ministers had taken decisions favourable to these companies as they had made huge investments in the companies owned by Jaganmohan Reddy as a quid pro quo.
So far three Ministers have lost their jobs for their alleged nexus with Jaganmohan Reddy. Earlier, the CBI had arrested another Minister M Venkatramanna for his role in allocation of 20,000 acres of land as he was the then Minister for Ports and Infrastructure. The land was allotted to an Industrialist Nimmagadda Prasad for Vodarevu and Nizampatnam Ports and Industrial Corridor. The CBI said that in exchange of the land, Prasad had invested Rs854 crore in the companies of Jagan.
Sabita Indra Reddy landed herself in trouble by giving mining lease to Dalmia Cements which had invested Rs50 crore in Jagan’s companies. One IAS office Y Srilakshmi and Mining department director VD Rajagopal were also arrested by the CBI in this case.
Several other major companies including Hetero Drugs and Ramky group of companies were also facing similar charges.
The CBI has charged Jagan with corruption, cheating and misusing his father’s power for his personal benefit.
With the ouster of the two Ministers, heat will rise on three other Ministers whose role in Jagan’s case was under CBI’s scanner. The Supreme Court has already issued notices to these Ministers and trouble will mount for them once the CBI includes their names in future chargesheets. They include Kanna lakshmi Narayana, Ponnala lakshmaiah and J Geeta Reddy.
leader of Opposition in the Assembly N Chandrababu Naidu described the acceptance of the resignation of the two Ministers a “partial victory” and said that his Telugu Desam Party will continue to fight till all the tainted Ministers were shown the door.
‘Cases politically motivated’
Hyderabad: Meanwhile, YSRCP senior leader DA Somayajalu alleged that the cases against Jaganmohan Reddy were politically motivated and there was a disproportionate use of the CBI in the case. “The right of opportunity to be heard was denied to Jagan,” he said. Investigation should be completed within 90 days after filing the FIR and chargesheet should be filed failing which any person is eligible for bail. In this case even after one year the investigation is not completed and five chargesheets were filed against a single FIR which shows the process is shoddy, he said. PNS