TIRUPATI: Minister Peddireddy Ramachandra has justified the arrest of Telugu Desam chief Chandrababu Naidu in the Skill Development Corporation scam and said this was just “the tip of the iceberg” and more scams of the former chief minister would surface soon.
The minister told the media here on Monday that numerous pending cases against Naidu are being taken forward by the investigating agencies. Naidu's arrest was not politically motivated and the AP crime branch and CID officials acted in accordance with established norms and procedures, he stressed.
Peddireddy said TD leaders and Naidu's legal counsel did not deny any wrongdoing on the part of the TD chief. They rather raised technical issues like non-seeking of permission from the Governor for the arrest and the delay in Naidu’s production in court, he said.
“The public is well aware of Naidu's previous attempts to delay corruption cases against him. The law is taking its due course. There have been no significant public protests against Chandrababu's arrest,” he said.
"When TD called for a bandh, not even the Heritage factory was closed. Shops in Chandrababu's native village remained open on Monday."
"In the past, Naidu touched the feet of (then) Union finance minister Chidambaram in the dark and sent Jagan Reddy to jail for 16 months. Now, they could not tolerate Naidu's jail stay even for a day," he said.
Peddireddy also took a swipe at Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan, suggesting that his concern for the TD chief's comfort during his arrest surpassed Naidu’s own son, Lokesh’s.
“We are not rejoicing in Chandrababu's arrest but believe that NTR's soul and his fans are feeling happy with these developments,” the minister said.
