Thursday, Feb 20, 2003
Thursday, Feb 20, 2003 |
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Andhra Pradesh
By Our Special Correspondent
Mr. Rao utilised the opportunity provided to him soon after the tea break, to narrate his version of the events in Veepanagandla village in Mahabubnagar that culminated in his arrest. In doing so, he alleged that the Panchayat Raj Minister, N. Janardhan Reddy, and the Telugu Desam legislator, K. Dayakar Reddy, had amassed wealth, sparking off noisy protests from the treasury benches. The charges were denied by the Minister and Mr. Dayakar Reddy. Mr. Krishna Rao said he was simply following the direction of the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu, by pulling up the erring officials. Much against Mr. Naidu's assurance against coercive methods, the Assistant Engineer (AE) of APTRANSCO seized starters of agricultural pumpsets and collected huge amounts, not sparing even Dalit farmers. He had discharged his duty as the people's representative, by restoring the starters to the farmers as their crops were drying up, he said. In all, 200 starters and service wires were stored in the APTRANSCO office at Kollapur, he said. The Deputy Speaker, K. Harishwar Reddy, asked Mr. Rao to confine his explanation to the references made in the House on Tuesday during a debate on the issue. He tried to move on to the next item in the agenda, but there was a noisy protest by the Congress members, some of whom rushed to the podium. The Legislative Affairs Minister, P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, appealed to the Chair to stop the member, as he was digressing from the subject and making wild charges. Undeterred, Mr. Rao continued and at one point he offered to resign if his charge of coercive collections was proved wrong. He made it clear that he would not sign the personal bond to get himself released till the APTRANSCO puts an end to forcible collection of electricity dues, its staff apologises to farmers and the Government announces a special package of Rs. 500 crores for Mahabubnagar on the lines of Anantapur. He alleged that Dr. Janardhan Reddy had amassed Rs. 200 crores and this was indicated by Mr. Dayakar Reddy at the Mahabubnagar DDRC meeting, Mr. Rao said. He further said that Mr. Dayakar Reddy used to run a bar to which the ruling party members shouted Mr. Rao down. Mr. Janardhan Reddy refuted the charge and said he had declared all his income before the Speaker. The Congress legislator was making such wild allegations out of frustration and after having lost touch with the voters of his constituency. Mr. Rao suppressed facts like the unauthorised farm connections, the complaint made by the AE against him and his refusal to take bail. It was all politically motivated, the Minister said. Mr. Dayakar Reddy admitted that he used to run a bar in partnership but it was with a valid licence. He was into different types of businesses and all of them were legal. He too had declared his assets and income to the Speaker and filed income tax returns. It was Mr. Rao who resorted to irregularities including burning of a file. He recalled how he came running to him for help when the Municipal Corporation of Hyderabad tried to demolish the building constructed unauthorisedly. "Let him disprove this.''
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