HYDERABAD: Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy has asked the TDP and the BJP to produce proof of corruption in the Volkswagen car deal before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

Replying to a protracted debate over the Volkswagen issue raised by BJP member G. Kishan Reddy during question hour in the Assembly on Monday, Dr. Reddy said that the company itself assumed responsibility for the siphoning of funds to the tune of Rs. 11.67 crores by its country manager Helmut Schuster. The BJP member wanted to know as to how the Government deposited such a huge amount of money with Vashista Wahan, an unincorporated company.

Leader of the Opposition N. Chandrababu Naidu accused the Chief Minister of signing the file blindly, and described the CBI as "Congress Bureau of Investigation." Reacting sharply, the Chief Minister said Mr. Naidu committed contempt of the Supreme Court as it had held the CBI as the supreme investigating agency in the country.

Launching a diatribe against Mr. Naidu, he said that the TDP Government never ordered an inquiry into any issue on its own. Referring to Mr. Naidu's allegation that he was resorting to a `counter-offensive' to gag the Opposition, Dr. Reddy asked whether the Congress "should take all his attacks lying down without uttering a single word."

The Chief Minister said the Government rejected the repayment by the Volkswagen AG as it did not want to allow the guilty to go scot-free. He claimed: "I am the only Chief Minister to have ordered a CBI probe against his own son and a Cabinet colleague (in TDP MLA Paritala Ravi's murder case). A CBI probe was ordered into Outer Ring Road controversy. I am losing count of the CBI probes as we have ordered one whenever there is a demand from the TDP."

Earlier, replying to Mr. Kishan Reddy, Minister for Industries J. Geeta Reddy listed out the chronological order of incidents in the Volkswagen issue, and said Mr. Naidu had claimed that he had treated Dr. Schuster as the "son-in-law of the State."

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