People's Democracy

CPI(M) Wants CBI Probe

Into YSR Govt Land Deals

THE ongoing probe by CBI into shady corporate investments in Y S Jaganmohan Reddy's companies must be extended to cover all the land deals made during the chief ministerial tenure of  his father, late Y S Rajashekar Reddy, in order to understand the quid pro quo of such investments, demanded the CPI(M) Andhra Pradesh state secretary B V Raghavulu.

Addressing a media conference at M B Bhavan on August 3 to brief about the deliberations of the state secretariat meeting held on the same day, Raghavulu found fault with the cabinet ministers now blaming Y S Rajashekar Reddy for the illegal allotments of land. “Would these Congress ministers then accept, by the same yardstick, that it is the prime minister Manmohan Singh who must be held responsible for the 2G scam and not A Raja?” The CPI(M) leader reminded the media how the CPI(M) had been from the beginning demanding a thorough inquiry into  crony allotments of land by the then YSR government. It had even sought a House Committee probe to go into this issue.

It may be noted that responding to AP High Court’s recent order, the state government has ordered a CBI inquiry into the investments made in Jaganmohan Reddy's companies that included the media group Sakshi and a cement company. The CBI interviewed representatives of corporate groups that bought shares of Jagan companies at huge premium even before they had begun operations. It submitted an interim report to the High Court and sought further time to thoroughly probe into these investments.

In this context the CPI(M) has demanded that the state government must bring out a white paper on all land deals during YSR regime and that CBI must probe these land deals also as they were interlinked to the channeling of funds into Jagan's companies. Raghavulu asserted that the entire cabinet is responsible for the illegal deeds done during the tenure of YSR headed government.

On the controversy regarding conducting of examination for recruitment to Sub Inspector of Police posts on August 13, Raghavulu demanded that the exam be postponed till the clause 14 (f) is removed from the Presidential Order. This clause makes Hyderabad a free zone in recruitment to police posts while in all other recruitments Hyderabad is treated as a separate zone with people from this region getting preference in appointments. The state assembly had passed a unanimous resolution in March 2010 requesting the central government to get the 14 (f) clause removed. Now union minister Chidambaram has asked for another resolution to be passed by the state assembly given the 'changed situation' in the state. Raghavulu decried this stand and charged that the central government is trying to create rupture in the state on this issue. He demanded both the state and central governments to clarify as to who is responsible for the delay in acting on the state assembly resolution. At least now the clause must be deleted and only then examination must be held, said Raghavulu. The Telangana Joint Action Committee and TRS have announced that they would obstruct the holding of the exam by any means.

Raghavulu also announced that the state secretariat discussed about the serious problems facing the people of the state and expressed concern at the total apathy of the state government in dealing with these problems. The health situation in many areas of the state is grim with people falling prey to diarrhea, fevers etc. The CPI(M) is conducting health camps in many districts and the gravity is such that in one of the camps in the agency areas of Vishakapatnam district, nearly 800 people attended the health camp. The government's apathy is such that when the CPI(M) approached it to provide medicines for the camps it is conducting, it declined. Raghavulu demanded that the health minister must resign if he can’t deliver. 

The issues of hike in property taxes in cities and towns, the problems of sharecroppers etc were also discussed in the secretariat meeting. A programme of action on these demands is being chalked out, he said.

(INN)