SENSATIONAL: Andhra cabinet names Chandrababu Naidu as beneficiary in land irrgularities

In a massive development, an Andhra Pradesh government cabinet sub-committee formed to review land polling conducted during the formation of Andhra capital by the previous regime has named TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu, alleging he was involved and benefited from insider trading. 

In the report that Republic exclusively accessed, the committee has found that while choosing the capital area and defining its boundaries, a select group of people benefitted. Persons privy to the likely location allegedly purchased land in the region just prior to the formal declaration, it says.

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Accusations over disputed land

The report that was submitted to Andhra CM Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday afternoon accuses certain highly placed individuals of acquiring land through Benami transactions and defining the capital area in such a manner that those holding land in the fringe benefit. 

Cabinet subcommittee members Ministers Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, Anil Kumar Yadav, Buggana Rajendranath Reddy, Mekapati Gautam Reddy amongst others met the Chief Minister on Friday afternoon. The report purported that there were irregularities in the land allotment and several violations of Andhra Pradesh assigned Lands Act along with violation of the SC/ST (prevention of atrocities) Act. 

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Several influential politicians and industrialists have been named as those who benefitted by these acts. Topping the list is former Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu’s name along with former minister Paritala Sunitha, former MLA GVS Anjeneyal, former TDP spokesperson Lanka Dinakar and other leaders like Dhulipalla Narendra and Putta Mahesh Yadav. 

Manipulation of the land

The report says that two types of manipulations were noticed. One-redesigning of boundaries of the land pooling scheme area in a manner where lands of TDP leaders of their relatives fell adjacent to the land pooling scheme zone. The second-redrawing of boundaries of the capital area to bring in the areas belonging to the leaders of TDP into the CRDA zone. 

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In September 2019, Andhra Pradesh government has formed a review committee of experts from across the country to examine all the projects and plans for the capital city of Amaravathi. The committee has been given a timeline of six weeks to submit its report to the government.

In August, the Jagan Reddy government had formed a cabinet sub-committee to reexamine all projects and financial transactions of the Naidu regime alleging that there was wide-spread corruption for personal gains in the previous government.

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