Many more corruption cases are pending against Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president N. Chandrababu Naidu, and necessary legal action will be taken as and when evidence is gathered, says YSRCP State general secretary and Adviser (Public Affairs) Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy.
“It should not be construed as political vendetta,” Mr. Ramakrishna Reddy said while addressing the media at the party office at Tadepalli, near here, on September 11.
“The Crime Investigation Department (CID) has been probing the Inner Ring Road scam for the last two years. The cases pertaining to the construction of capital Amaravati, TIDCO houses, Inner Ring Road, Fibernet are not out of the blue. The government is not digging the old cases,” he said, and asserted that Mr. Naidu was arrested in the cases that had been under investigation for a couple of years now.
Even while in the Opposition, the YSRCP had pointed out that public money was being swindled in the projects, he said. Mr. Naidu, his family members and his benamis were involved in them, he alleged.
As Mr. Naidu was already in remand, the CID might have filed a Prisoner Transit (PT) petition with regard to the IRR case, he said.
Referring to retired IAS officer P.V. Ramesh’s comments, he said it was not correct to say that the case against Mr. Naidu was filed based on his (Mr. Ramesh) statement. Also, it was not correct on the part of a retired bureaucrat to make comments when the case was sub judice, Mr. Ramakrishna Reddy observed.
There were many issues in the notefile of Mr. Ramesh, and details were available on public domain, he said, adding that the CID was going ahead with all evidence.
The TDP should prove its popular support on its own, but not with the help of “crutches” (the JSP and other opposition parties), he said.
“Mr. Naidu cannot survive without JSP chief Pawan Kalyan, or the CPI, or other parties. It will be a straight fight if the TDP and the YSRCP contest in all the 175 Assembly constituencies. Does Mr. Naidu have the courage to do so? The YSRCP will seek mandate on development and welfare planks. The people will elect the party of their choice,” he said.
Mr. Naidu had a habit of resorting to vindictive politics, and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy was subjected to such politics in the past, he said.
“Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy has no such intention. It is pertinent to mention here that there would not have been a single case against Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy had he toed the Congress party line,” Mr. Ramakrishna Reddy said.
People embraced Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy as they understood that he had been harassed with false cases, he said. The TDP was trying to evoke sympathy out of Mr. Naidu’s arrest, he said.
Published - September 11, 2023 10:14 pm IST
