JLC probe should cover Babu's rule too: Jagan group

Congress MLAs and known supporters of former MP Ys Jaganmohan Reddy on Saturday demanded that the proposed Joint Legislature Committee to probe land allotments to business houses in Special Economic Zones should investigate all such allocations since 1994, the time before Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu took over as chief minister.

Talking to media persons at Assembly Media Point, the MLAs, including Shobha Nagi Reddy, Konda Surekha, Srikanth Reddy and others said that it was indeed surprising that the opposition keeled over to the government’s stand and agreed for a debate on the land allotments before the setting up of the JLC.

“The opposition wasted ten precious days of the Assembly’s time insisting that they wanted a JLC without discussion and then surprisingly agreed to a debate,” Ms Shobha Nagi Reddy pointed out.

She wondered if the sudden turnaround was because of a secret deal between the government and the opposition. “The TDP had insisted on a JLC without discussions since it was apprehensive that the Congress would reveal the land allocations made by Mr Naidu during his reign. But now it seems that the opposition and the Congress have struck a deal through which only the land allocations to alleged business associates of Mr Jaganmohan Reddy would be mentioned,” Ms Nagi Reddy alleged.

She also stated that the demand for a JLC has sprung up only because Mr Jaganmohan Reddy entered the political scene.

The MLA demanded that the JLC probe should cover all allotment of lands right from the time Mr Naidu took over as chief minister. She said that this would also reveal the dubious deals struck by Mr Naidu during his reign.

Ms Nagi Reddy said that the TDP cannot face Mr Jaganmohan Reddy in the open and was resorting to use guerrilla warfare by using the Congress as a pawn and holding the House to ransom to corner the former MP.

The MLA pointed out that Mr Naidu during his tenure had allotted lands to the Raheja Group, but the dubious deals were never fully made public. She also alleged that Mr Naidu had invested heavily in the Margadarsi Chit Funds and the Eenadu Group through benami accounts.

The MLA warned that all these would be brought out in the open during the discussions. She also warned that the TDP may assume that it was targeting Mr Jaganmohan Reddy, but expressed confidence that the ploy may boomerang back on the main opposition.