Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Acrimonious debate over stamp paper scam

By Our Special Correspondent

HYDERABAD SEPT. 23. Acrimonious exchanges between the Telugu Desam Party and Congress members marked the debate on the multi-crore fake stamp paper scam and the alleged involvement of the ruling party MLA, C. Krishna Yadav, in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly on Tuesday.

K.R. Suresh Reddy, Congress MLA, who initiated the debate, was interrupted repeatedly by the Treasury benches whenever he referred to the scam, the key players involved, the way the "Cabinet was criminalised," the Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu's prolonged silence and how Mr. Yadav was made a "sacrificial goat" though many more were involved.

"Mr. Yadav's is not an isolated case to shake the State and the country. It exposes how deep-rooted political and criminal nexus has become, the way law enforcement throttled people, the role of a corrupt Government and delinquent Ministers. It also exposed Mr. Naidu's clean image, hollowness of Smart Governance and shallowness of Good Governance," he said, provoking angry protests from the ruling party. Congress members countered by chanting "shame, shame."

He asked why the Government had failed to calculate the loss to the exchequer, when it could keep a count on the number of people who took a dip in the Godavari Pushkaram. When he argued that the scam worked out to Rs.100,000 crores and not merely Rs. 32,000 crores as made out, "enough to provide free power supply to farmers for decades and build houses for all the poor", Mr. Naidu clarified that there was no such huge amount involved. The Chief Minister said the biggest haul was by the police in Maharashtra where stamps worth Rs. 2,500 crores were seized, followed by Delhi (Rs. 214 crores), Karnataka (Rs. 205 crores) and in AP (Rs. 19.70 crores, of which Rs. 9 crores worth stamp papers were seized by the Karnataka police).

Earlier, the Legislative Affairs Minister, Y. Ramakrishnudu, and the Revenue Minister, P. Ashok Gajapathi Raju, demanded that the members having criminal background be either prevented from speaking or abstain themselves from participating voluntarily to maintain sanctity of the House.

Mr. Suresh Reddy said the scam came to light first in August, 1999, with some good policing, but the Government deliberately did not take any follow-up action. The police arrested the key person, Abdul Karim Telgi, but allowed him to be freed on bail by booking trivial cases against him. He went on to make the charge that Telgi was let off and the case covered up in 1999 to mobilise resources for the impending Assembly elections. From August, 1999, till the arrest of Mr. Yadav recently, the Government slept over the issue.

The Chief Minister too did not show any interest in pursuing a CBI probe with the Centre. "The whole episode raises suspicion and Telgi enjoyed Cabinet support as Mr. Yadav was made a Minister."

Mr. Suresh Reddy demanded an inquiry by a sitting Supreme Court judge into the scam and the resignation of the Chief Minister to facilitate the probe. He accused Mr.Naidu of trying to shield the "corrupt and criminals" in the ruling party for "political gain" in the next elections.

He said that Mr. Naidu need not worry about the party leadership after his resignation as it could be handed over to Bhuvaneswari Devi (the Chief Minister's wife).

Accusing the Government of continuing persons with criminal antecedents in the Cabinet, he said while the Minister for Housing, P. Ramasubba Reddy, who was chargesheeted for a double murder case, was continuing, S. Devaiah and P. Srinivas Reddy were made to resign following reports of their involvement in a murder case and irregularities in purchase of stationery respectively.

"Why is the same principle not applied to Mr. Ramasubba Reddy? How can he continue in the Cabinet till the court completes the trial. What message will it send to people?" he asked.

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