Chandrababu demands YSR's resignation over land scam

New Delhi, Oct 20 (UNI) TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu today demanded Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy's resignation and held him and his party colleagues responsible for manipulating outer ring road alignment around Hyderabad city.

Submitting a 1000 page memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today and to President A P J Abdul Kalam yesterday, Mr Naidu demanded a judicial inquiry headed by a sitting Supreme Court or High Court judge to probe the Rs 2500 crore land scandal. He alleged that farmers were being deprived of their land and livelihood.

He said compensation paid to them was meagre while politicians and their friends made huge sums of money.

Mr Naidu was accompanied by Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh and Asom Gana Parishad MP Brindavan Goswamy. Both the parties have agreed to attend the rally in the event of any inaction by the Centre.

''The allegations are backed by solid documentary proofs where the ruling elite gobbled crore of money leaving the land owning farmer high and dry. The two parties pledge their support to raise the issue in Parliament and support the TDP,'' Mr Singh and Mr Goswamy said.

Mr Naidu told reporters that the TDP was of the opinion that the ongoing CBI inquiry into the issue would not be just, but it would instead dilute the case.

He said once the land was registered in the name of buyers, the notifications were withdrawn and the new owners sold their lands for Rs 14 crore an acre which they had purchased for Rs 15-20 lakh.

He accused politicians and bureaucrats of making enormous profits worth Rs 2,500 crore by misusing their authority and power.

He said he has urged Dr Singh nad Dr Kalam that the land acquired by several close relatives of Dr Reddy his cabinet colleagues and kin of top bureaucrats of the state should not be transfered to some other hand but should be returned to the farmers.

Mr Naidu also criticised Dr Reddy for being biased in the Gouru Venkata Reddy case. Gouru, husband of a Congress MLA, had been convicted for murdering two people. The lower court had awarded him death sentence which was later converted into 10 years imprisonment by the Supreme Court.

''The first thing Dr Reddy did was to let out a convict on a parole,'' he said.

The Supreme Court had held that the discretionary power exercised by the Chief Minister by granting parole to Gouru was based on ''irrelevant and extraneous considerations''.

He said the Prime Minister and the President had promised that appropriate action will be taken.

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