Wiki blows lid off YSR-era graft; calls it above India-norms

Hyderabad, Sept 15: Wikileaks has blown the top on the massive corruption during the YS Rajasekhar Reddy regime in Andhra Pradesh. Reddy was the Andhra Pradesh CM in 2009. The leaked US diplomatic cables state how the corruption in the state was so widespread 'even beyond the pale' for India.

Acting as a setback to the tall claims made by Rajasekhar Reddy's son Jagan Mohan Reddy on his father's corruption-free tag, Jagan himself is embroiled in a controversy over his massive asset accumulation during his father's tenure as CM. Jagan also rose up the political ladder after his father's death in a helicopter crash on Sept 2, 2009.

Blowing the whistle, the cables that were dispatched by the US Consul General in Chennai in 2007 found that in the name of social programmes, the YSR government engaged in massive frauds that was 'beyond the norm for India'.

The cables also blew the lid on YSR's 'flagship programmes' were his populist irrigation and housing programmes for the weaker sections of society were riddled with corruption and popularized the schemes for political mileage.

The cables quoting the US Consul General said, "There is consensus in Andhra Pradesh that irrigation and housing programmes are beset with corruption. On separate visits to Hyderabad, we heard allegations of widespread graft from several neutral observers. An economist who studies the effectiveness of government programmes in the state said with only 'four to five companies executing the projects, there are many opportunities for graft in the irrigation programme."

He added, "Typically, five to seven per cent is lost to corruption but in Reddy's irrigation programme, that figure is more like fifteen to twenty percent."

OneIndia News