HYDERABAD, India, 10 October 2007 — Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Dr. Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy yesterday dared the leader of opposition and former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu to agree to an inquiry commission on the wealth accumulated by both of them and their family members over the last three decades.
Taking strong exception to the allegations of corruption leveled by the Telugu Desam Party against him, Reddy asked Naidu whether he was ready to have an inquiry commission on the issue of wealth accumulated by them and their family members, since the day of their joining politics in 1978. He said the state government was ready to institute such a probe.
Reddy lambasted Naidu for alleging that he (the chief minister) was making 10 million rupees per hour through corrupt means. Unlike erstwhile opposition leaders like Gouthu Latchanna, the present leader of the opposition was resorting to “cheap criticism” against the state chief minister to gain political mileage in the next elections.
In fact, Naidu had declared himself as the chief executive officer of the state during the nine-year TDP rule and was habituated to earn “income” on hourly basis. Naidu had concentrated on only one issue i.e. accumulation of wealth after becoming son-in-law of former chief minister and TDP founder late N.T. Rama Rao, he contended. He lashed out at the former chief minister for going back on all the three pre-poll promises, including total prohibition, Rs. two-a-kg-rice scheme and power tariff of Rs.50 per horse power for agricultural pump sets, made by the TDP.
Ridiculing the TDP leader for his latest promise to provide free power to farmers after coming to power, Reddy suggested to Naidu to first have a survey to know whether the people believed his promises or not. In reality, the former chief minister had sent thousands of farmers into jails for their failure to clear power bill arrears.
Unlike TDP’s “false” promises, the Congress government has fulfilled all the pre-poll promises, like free power for farmers, Indiramma pensions and houses for the poor, made to the people in 2004. The Congress government has launched other schemes such as Rajiv Arogyasree (health insurance scheme), Rajiv Swagruha (housing for middle class families), upgradation of about 6,000 government schools at an outlay of Rs.300 billion to benefit poor and middle class families, he claimed.
Referring to the challenge posed by TDP on the Rs.2-a-kilo rice scheme, the chief minister asserted that his government has not promised to implement the scheme with immediate effect.
The government, in principle, has decided to implement the scheme to benefit the poor. Steps have been taken to study the feasibility of implementation of the scheme.
