The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Congress hails probe into IMG Bharata deal

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Sunday, Oct 01, 2006
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Congress hails probe into IMG Bharata deal

Special Correspondent

Says it will expose irregularities during TDP regime

HYDERABAD: The Congress Legislature Party has welcomed the Government's decision to seek an inquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation into the IMG Bharata land deal of the previous Telugu Desam Government.

Addressing a press conference on Saturday, N. Kiran Kumar Reddy, Government Chief Whip, said it was predictable that TDP leaders would become jittery with the inquiry, as it would expose irregularities during their regime.

ORR row

Dubbing as baseless the TDP's charges with regard to the Outer Ring Road project, he said the Congress Government was not like its predecessor, which gave away valuable land at throwaway prices to some individuals.

Releasing the correspondence between the previous Government and the IMG Academics Private Limited which floated IMG Bharata, Mr. Kiran Kumar Reddy said then Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had bent every rule in the book to accommodate the company and gave land to them at Rs. 50,000 an acre ( 850 acres in all).

Over Rs. 1.6 cr. an acre

Minister for Panchayat Raj J.C. Diwakar Reddy also released documents to back his contention that land prices in the Gachibowli area were beyond Rs. 1.6 crore an acre at that time.

He denied that he had bought land alongside the ORR alignment or benefited by the changes made to it.

He said the re-alignment had, in fact, distanced the ORR by at least two kilometres from his plot measuring one acre.

His was from a landlord family and was rich enough to buy lands unlike Mr. Naidu who amassed wealth within a short period, he said.

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