Suspend Acharya for APIIC Scam

Rajya Sabha member and senior Congress leader V Hanumantha Rao on Thursday demanded the government immediately suspend Principal Secretary (Industries and Commerce) BP Acharya in the wake of mounting allegations of his involvement in the irregularities in land deals between Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation and Emaar Properties.

Talking to media persons at Fateh Maidan Club, the senior Congress leader urged the state government to institute a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into alleged land deals.

He said the government should come clean on the murky deals as they have damaged the image of the party at state level.

Appealing to the government to return the 73 acres of land acquired from the poor farmers at nominal rates, Mr Hanumantha Rao demanded that the government announce the list of allottees in the deals.

He also demanded action against all officials, found guilty in the land deals which had led to the APIIC suffering huge losses.

Pointing out that the Solicitor General Gopala Subrahmanyam has recommended to the state government to cancel the partnership agreement between APIIC-Emaar Properties and initiate action against Emaar Properties under Company Law board, Mr Hanumantha Rao said that the government had suffered losses to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore due to the dubious land deals.

Apart from officials, he suspected the hands of senior Congress leaders behind the deals.

The Rajya Sabha member urged the government to deal with corruption with an iron hand and recover the losses occurred to APIIC through Emaar Properties by invoking Clause 6 of the agreement.

He said that he would meet Chief Minister K Rosaiah , UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh seeking their intervention as the image of Congress party was damaged due to the dubious land deals.

Mr Hanumantha Rao vowed to continue his fight until the government does justice to farmers.     

“The Congress came to power on the slogan of welfare of farmers. If they suffer, the Congress will not come to power in the next elections to be held in 2014,” he said.