TDP govt keen to dig scams of Cong leaders

HYDERABAD: The Andhra Pradesh government, which is on a spree of scrapping permissions given to various companies for setting up industries by the erstwhile Rajasekhara Reddy government, is contemplating fresh probe into all the scams that came to light during the previous Congress regimes in which senior Congress leaders had faced graft allegations.

The government is all set to dig into the past scams, probably with an aim to corner former APCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana, APCC president N Raghuveera Reddy, former chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, former minister Dharmana Prasada Rao and YSRC leader A Ayodhya Rami Reddy, close aide of YSRC chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy.

The Cabinet sub-committee, set up to review the controversial decisions taken by the previous Congress governments, will soon look into the liquor scam in which the then transport minister Botcha Satyanarayana had faced charges.

The panel will also have a fresh look into the alleged irregularities in the cloud-seeding project in which Raghuveera had faced accusations.

IT Minister Palle Raghunatha Reddy, a member of the ministerial panel, said: 'In the next meeting of our panel, we will reopen the liquor scam to find out facts and initiate action.'

He said the committee would look into the irregularities that had taken place in the implementation of cloud-seeding project in Anantapur district when Raghuveera was the agriculture minister. An amount of

`50 crore was looted in the name of the project, he alleged. According to Reddy, the panel will also examine the red sanders' smuggling in Chittoor and Kadapa districts in which Kiran's brother was at the centre of a controversy.

It will also probe the granite mining leases granted at Kannedhara hill in Srikakulam district when Dharmana was the revenue minister, apart from investigating the permissions given to Nagarjuna power plant in Sompeta.

Besides this, land allotments and permissions given to Ramky Pharma City near Visakhapatnam, owned by Ramky group, which is facing a CBI probe in the assets case of Jagan, will also be probed. The committee will also probe the allotment of barytes mining leases.

Meanwhile, the Yanamala Ramakrishnudu committee decided to recommend cancellation of permissions given to Vanpic project in Guntur and Prakasam districts, Lepakshi Knowledge Hub in Anantapur district and Kineta Power Pvt Ltd in Nellore District.