Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: For two days, the Andhra Pradesh Assembly witnessed a war of words between Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and Leader of Opposition N Chandrababu Naidu. The issues on which the both crossed swords were: the Satyam Computers scandal, the Maytas projects, the Heritage Foods 'scam', the benami companies floated by Rajasekhara Reddy's son Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and the money laundering indulged in by Jagan, education of Chandrababu's son Lokesh in the United States with alleged funding from Satyam's Ramalinga Raju, the Rs one crore donation handed over to the NTR Trust by three fictitious companies floated by Ramalinga Raju and, of course, the way they brought up their sons.
Day one saw Chandrababu Naidu launch a vitriolic attack on Rajasekhara Reddy while the latter took his turn on the second day for retribution.
Launching a no-holds-barred attack on his arch rival Rajasekhara Reddy, the TDP president accused Andhra Pradesh government of shielding the "guilty" by "blocking" a CBI probe into the Satyam scandal. He also demanded that the Centre order an inquiry into the fraudulent financial transactions of companies promoted by Jaganmohan Reddy. Initiating a debate on the Satyam Computers scandal in the Assembly, the leader of opposition alleged that the Reddy government hastily ordered an inquiry by the Crime Investigation Department into the Satyam Computers scandal only to save its promoter B Ramalinga Raju. "When all major laws, including SEBI, FERA, FEMA, RBI and IT were violated and when the company's operations were spread over 66 countries, how can the CID investigation unearth the truth? It was a fit case for Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry as the national agency could have co-ordinated with the Interpol to probe deeper into the scandal," Naidu said. It was a clear attempt by the state government to shield the fraudsters through the CID probe which had no locus standi in the case, he lashed out. "The Congress high command has also blocked the CBI investigation into the Satyam scandal only to suppress facts and protect the guilty," he alleged. As the Congress MLAs shouted "Heritage, Heritage", apparently referring to the alleged financial irregularities in the company owned by Naidu's family, he hit back daring the government to conduct an inquiry. Naidu demanded a judicial probe by a sitting judge into the affairs of Satyam Computers, Maytas Infra, Maytas Properties and the 14 'benami' companies allegedly promoted by the CM's son and also Heritage Foods. "The SEBI rules were violated. FEMA, FERA and the RBI Acts have been violated and even the Income Tax Act was breached in the functioning of the 14 companies promoted by the Chief Minister's son. The Government of India should immediately conduct an inquiry," Naidu said. Naidu also took potshots at the CM over the "upbringing" of his son Jagan. He was also irritated by the Chief Minister's "smile". "Why do you laugh so viciously? Why are you staring at me in a furious manner? Would you like to hit me? Come on," he thundered."You (Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy) and Ramalinga Raju are similar in nature. Both of you want thousands of acres of land in your kitty. What will you do with such land," Naidu asked. "You better confess to your wrongdoings like Ramalinga Raju did. You too will get some respite from law," he said. Lashing out at Finance Minister K Rosaiah, Naidu said: "Had you, as an elderly man, cautioned YSR and kept a tab on his activities, he would not have landed in such a disgraceful position. But you remained like Dhritarashtra as YSR went about committing many mistakes."
On Day Two, the Chief Minister hit back strongly at the Leader of Opposition saying the latter's family members – promoters of Heritage Foods – too would meet with the same fate as Ramalinga Raju over the alleged financial fraud in the company.
"There is no difference between the financial scandal in Satyam Computers and Heritage Foods. Your family holds 33 per cent stake in Heritage and will land exactly where Ramalinga Raju has now landed (in the jail)," Rajasekhara Reddy said.
"Had he been alive, (Joseph) Goebbels (the late German propaganda minister) would have felt ashamed looking at you," an irate Chief Minister told the Opposition leader.
Rajasekhara Reddy squarely blamed Chandrababu Naidu for the Satyam scandal and the dubious rise of Ramalinga Raju. "Efforts to camouflage the financial irregularities in Satyam Computers and protect its promoters were made under your (Naidu) regime," the Chief Minister alleged and cited a letter written by RPI MP Ramdas Athavle in 2003 and also a report by income tax deputy director S Padmaja in 2002.
By enabling Ramalinga Raju share the dais with the then US President Bill Clinton on his trip to Hyderabad in 2000, Chandrababu as the then Chief Minister contributed to the significant rise of Satyam's share value. As the share value shot up, Ramalinga Raju and his family sold out their stake and purchased thousands of acres of land in the name of 300 companies, the Chief Minister pointed out.
Three benami companies floated by Ramalinga Raju had donated Rs one crore to the NTR Trust run by Chandrababu, he added.
Referring to the Satyam scandal, the Chief Minister noted: "This is a very, very sad story. No one had ever imagined that one of the top-4 software companies in the country would be mired in such a massive fraud. Failure of the Central agencies like SEBI in detecting the fraud is glaring."
Rajasekhara Reddy asserted that the Andhra Pradesh Crime Investigation Department "did its best" in investigating the fraud in Satyam following the disclosure by Ramalinga Raju.
"We have taken a clear and conscious decision to save the company and take its fraudulent management to task as it is the responsibility of both the state and the Central government to safeguard the interests of 53,000 employees," he added.
Rajasekhara Reddy challenged Chandrababu Naidu to complain to the appropriate agencies if there were any irregularities in the functioning of companies floated by his son Jagan.
"There is nothing amiss in the affairs of either Sandur Power Company or other subsidiaries floated by my son Jaganmohan Reddy and business partners. If there is anything wrong, you can approach the proper agencies with your complaint," the Chief Minister sought to say.
The Chief Minister questioned "what's wrong in it?" if shares of Sakshi newspaper floated by his son Jagan were sold at a higher price than the face value. "You find nothing wrong when Eenadu Telugu newspaper's share worth Rs 100 was sold at Rs 5,28,630. But you find fault when a Rs 10 worth share of Sandur Power was sold at Rs 71," Rajasekhara Reddy pointed out.
He alleged that Heritage Foods, a company promoted by Naidu's family, sold Rs 60 crore worth of land for a mere Rs 3 crore to a subsidiary Heritage Infra, thereby causing heavy loss to the shareholders.
"My son Jagan is being dragged into this controversy as he has exposed the fraudulent Heritage deals through his Sakshi newspaper. But this being the Assembly, I can't speak certain 'facts' about your son Lokesh," Rajasekhara Reddy said.
He went on to allege that Lokesh was a roommate of Ramalinga Raju's son in a US University. Naidu, however, rebutted this and said they studied in the same university but did not share a room.
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