Rajahmundry MP Margani Bharat called former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu a ‘political scamster’ who has mastered the art of dodging questions about his suspected role in some major scandals, like the latest one in which he allegedly received kickbacks from a company involved in the development of Amaravati.
The Income-Tax Department (ITD) asked why the money received by Mr. Naidu, through an individual believed to be a representative of that reputed company, should not be disclosed as undisclosed income. “If Mr. Naidu wants the people to consider him to be clean, he should respond to the I-T notices,” Mr. Bharat demanded, pointing out that the above kickbacks pertained to a single financial year, indicating that it was just a slice of the pie.
“When a person like me would file a defamation suit if corruption charges were made against me, why is Mr. Naidu, who claims to be a man of integrity, keeping quiet on the IT notices?” asked Mr. Bharat while addressing a press conference at the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) central office at Tadepalli on Monday.
The YSRCP MP alleged that some of the illegal transactions were done in foreign currency, especially dirhams. “These transactions took place over many years. People are aware of how Mr. Naidu, who owned a paltry two acres of agricultural land at the beginning of his political career, reached exalted positions at the national level. His corrupt deeds in the development of Amaravati are glaring,” he asserted.
Mr. Bharat said the TDP government claimed to have spent ₹1,000 crore on the construction of the temporary State Secretariat at Velagapudi post-bifurcation whereas the iconic new Parliament building and Telangana Secretariat building cost well below that figure. Polavaram was another project in which Mr. Naidu and his coterie minted money, the YSRCP MP alleged, adding that Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself had commented that the TDP government had treated the project as an ‘ATM’.
