'I was ignorant of violation of land reforms', Reddy

New Delhi, Feb 18 (UNI) Claiming that he and his family members possessed 310 acres of 'assigned land' for three decades in violation of Land Reforms laws due to "ignorance", Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy today challenged his predecessor N Chandrababu Naidu to take the issue to court.

The Chief Minister told a private new channel in an interview that he had not acted unlawfully to the best of his knowledge and the violation had occurred cue to "ignorance".

Arguing that "ignorance of fact was no crime" Dr Reddy said the moment he became aware that the lands were traced back to the 1905 record of assigned land for the farmers, he and his family members "surrendered the land voluntarily". He had never known the facts about the land purchased by his father 30 years ago, he claimed.

When asked if he was ignorant of the facts, the Chief Minister replied "Absolutely".

Responding to the allegations of Leader of Opposition in A P Assembly Mr Chandrababu Naidu and his communication with the Prime Minister about the Chief Minister violating six laws including the Land Reforms Act of 1973 and the Assigned Lands Act of 1977, Dr Reddy replied "I request him (Mr Naidu) to file complaints in the court of law.

"I'm challenging him to take me to any court of his choice." When reminded about his December statement in the A P Assembly that he had retained 180 acres of temple, tank, government waste land in Idupulapaya Estate, after surrendering 310 acres, Dr Reddy again said that Mr Naidu could go to any relevant court.

He, however, denied the allegations that he had failed to reveal in his 2004 election affidavit information about the shareholding in two companies which in turn surrendered assigned lands in December.

He maintained that the " total quantum of shares had been mentioned and it was not necessary to mention every company".

He also denied the Opposition's allegations that he was aware of the fact that the 997 acres of Kundur lands which he had separately surrendered in January were agricultural lands.

Asked if he was ignorant about filing the tax returns too, Dr Reddy reasoned that it was because he owned "so many lands in so many places".

Rubbishing allegations that he or his family owned benami lands in the State, he said, "To the best of my knowledge whatever has been done, nothing is unlawful. I only want to say that if at all there's anything unlawful let Mr Chandrababu Naidu agitate about this in court." UNI