Senior TDP leader Atchannaidu taken into custody in "ESI scam"

Telugu Desam Legislature Party Deputy leer and former Andhra Presh minister K Atchannaidu was taken into custody by state Anti-Corruption Bureau sleuths early on Friday in connection with alleged Rs 151 crore scam in ESI Corporation, ACB sources said.

Atchannaidu was Labour Minister in previous TDP government when scandal allegedly took place in procurement of medicines and medical equipment. ACB sleuths went to senior TDP leer's residence at Tekkali in Srikakulam district in early hours of Friday and took him away.

An inquiry by state Vigilance and Enforcement Department h in February this year claimed to have uneard scam in Employees State Insurance Corporation allegedly involving several top officials during period between 2014 and 2019, when TDP was in power. Reacting to ACB's action against Atchannaidu, TDP president N Chandrababu Naidu alleged former was "kidnapped" by over 100 policemen and taken to an undisclosed location.

In a statement, he held Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy responsible for it and demanded resignation of Home Minister M Sucharita. He termed it as an "attack on backward classes", saying Atchannaidu, who belonged to community, was in forefront "exposing misdeeds" of Jagan Mohan Reddy-led YSR Congress government.