Desaraju Surya
Hyderabad: The arrest of former minister of Karnataka Gali Janardhana Reddy by
the CBI in the illegal mining case has started ringing alarm bells in the Kadapa MP Y
S Jaganmohan Reddy’s camp as the former allegedly invested money in
the latter’s businesses.
In his own
words, late Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy was a “father figure” and
Jagan “my younger brother” for Gali Janardhana Reddy who was a beneficiary of
the former’s munificence in Andhra Pradesh.
Gali’s associate
and a director in his Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) Ramachandra Reddy is an
MLA from Anantapur district who resigned from the Assembly last month in
support of Jagan.
His campers fear
that the CBI’s probe into Gali’s illegal mining activity may also extend to Jagan
as the duo had close business and family links.
Jagan is already
under the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate scanner over his dubious business
ventures.
The then YSR
government virtually gifted over 10,000 acres of land in Kadapa district to
Gali for setting up a steel plant named Brahmani. Another 3,000 acres was
given to Gali for constructing an exclusive airport.
Not stopping at
that, YSR himself wrote a letter to the Government of India to grant a loan of
Rs 750 crore to Gali for setting up the steel plant and personally lobbied with
the authorities concerned for securing the loan.
Besides, the YSR
government gave a free run to Gali for carrying out iron ore mining in
Anantapur district, bordering Karnataka, ostensibly for the proposed steel
plant.
In turn, Gali
invested huge money in RR Global and Red Gold business ventures owned by Jagan.
The steel plant
never came up but Gali went ahead with iron ore mining for over two years
without any hindrance and shipped the mineral illegally to foreign countries.
All opposition
parties in the state waged a virtual war against this “brazen loot of nation’s
mineral resources” but, as long as he was alive, YSR never did anything to stop
the illegal mining.
The Central
Empowered Committee appointed by the Supreme Court that probed the illegal
mining in Anantapur district had strongly indicted the Andhra Pradesh
government saying “their efforts have been to cover up the illegal mining being
done by OMC in the un-allotted forest areas outside the approved mining leases.”
In a scathing
criticism of the then YSR government, the CEC observed that “the objectivity,
fairness and impartiality which is expected from a state government is
shockingly lacking here and does not inspire confidence.”
It was only
after YSR’s death that the then Rosaiah government finally cracked the whip on
Gali’s illegal activities by suspending all mining activity in Anantapur
district.
And now, the law has finally caught up with the mining mafia lord.