Congess denies taking kickbacks from companies

Hyderabad, June 3: The ruling Congress in Andhra Pradesh today denied the Telugu Desam Party's charge that the State Government had allowed cement companies to hike cement price after taking kickbacks.

The cement price in the open market was the lowest in the country, ranging between Rs 200 and Rs 215 per bag in different parts of the state compared to Rs 260 in Karnataka, Rs 250 in Tamil Nadu and Rs 230 in West Bengal, Pradesh Congress Spokesman N Tulasi Reddy told a press conference here.

The cement companies in Andhra Pradesh supplied cement at a concessional rate, ranging between Rs 140 to Rs 160, for the beneficiaries of the INDIRAMMA housing programme, he added.

He wanted to know whether Mr Naidu would dare make such an allegation against the West Bengal Government where its ally the CPI(M) was in power.

It was TDP President N Chandrababu Naidu, who, during his tenure as the Chief Minister, allowed a particular liquor company to benefit by making the State Beverages Corporation buy a liquor case at Rs 591 when the same company sold it in Kerala only at Rs 360, in Tamil Nadu at Rs 423 and in Karnataka at Rs 460, he contended.

UNI