Visakhapatnam: Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Minister Seedari Appalaraju came down heavily on TD chief Chandrababu Naidu by seeking his imprisonment over the alleged embezzlement of funds on a large scale.
Addressing the media at the Srikakulam YSRC office on Sunday, the minister said Naidu, as chief minister, “misappropriated huge funds during the Amaravati capital development. He resorted to insider trading and diverted the central funds released for the Polavaram projects,” the minister said.
The minister noted, “The IT department found unaccounted remittances of '118 crore and if Naidu failed to account for this, he would be in deep trouble.” Prime minister Narendra Modi himself said Chandrababu Naidu used Polavaram as an ATM, he recalled.
Referring to the notice issued by the IT department from August 4, Appalaraju asked why Naidu was remaining silent. “Naidu established two bogus companies. Two persons, Vinay and Vikki, diverted the funds to Naidu after collecting the money from one Deva Parthasaradhi. Naidu is known for manipulation of institutions."
The minister also flayed Jana Sena leader Pawan Kalyan for his silence on the IT notices. “If Pawan Kalyan did not take any package from Naidu, he should question him about the notices,’’ he said.
He said Naidu was now trying to get closer to PM Narendra Modi to save himself from the current plight. “The recent release of a commemorative coin to mark NTR birth centenary in Delhi was a sponsored programme through which Naidu wanted to revive his links with the BJP, but Modi and Shah kept him at a distance,” he said.
The minister sought a comprehensive inquiry into the corruption by Naidu during his 14 years as chief minister.
When asked about power outages, the minister replied that this August was the worst month of the century and there was a drop in generation against the growing demand for power. But chief minister Jagan Reddy tried to minimize the shortfall by purchasing power from the market, he said.
