PLEA FOR PROBE: Congress Chief Whip N. Kirankumar Reddy addressing a press conference at Tirupati on Tuesday. Flanking him are the district in-charge Minister, N. Raghuveera Reddy, and the local MLA, M.Venkatramana.

TIRUPATI: The Congress Chief Whip, N. Kirankumar Reddy, on Tuesday sought a CBI probe into the sale of 400 acres of land in Hyderabad to IMG Academies Bharata (P) Ltd, allegedly for a throwaway price by the Chandrababu Naidu Government for setting up a sports academy. Mr Reddy, however, evaded a reply to the TDP's rebuttal of the charge and that the Congress was free to get a probe conducted by Interpol into the `deal' if it wished.

Asked for his comments on the TDP leaders' refrain, the Chief Whip without elaborating said that the Government was waiting for the report from the Cabinet Sub-Committee constituted to go into the entire gamut of the alleged scam. "Once it comes we will definitely go after Naidu hammer and tongs on the floor of the House," Mr Kirankumar Reddy said.

Talking to mediapersons at the Tirupati Press Club, he questioned the undue haste and the alleged impropriety committed by the TDP Government in selling the land to the New Jersey-based IMG after the dissolution of the Assembly in 2003. What is more, he alleged that the entire land measuring 400 acres was sold away to the company for a song -- a mere Rs.4.5 crores in all when the value of even an acre in the locality was around Rs. 1 crore.

He further alleged that Mr Naidu's family sold property belonging to them in the same area at Rs. 1 crore per acre as far ago as 2000 itself and questioned under what authority he sold 400 acres of land for a mere Rs.4.5 crores.

Stay orders

He also said that though Mr Naidu was allegedly involved in several other scams such as IMF liquor case, disproportionate assets case, Yeleru land scam and so on, he was `thriving' only because of the stay orders he secured in all these cases. He was even getting the probes stalled through the stay orders, he said.

He said that there was no need for the Chief Minister, Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy, to campaign for the municipal elections. District in-charge Minister, N. Raghuveera Reddy, local MLA, M.

Venkatramana, TUDA Chairman, B. Karunakar Reddy, were also present at the press conference.

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