Babu wants dismissal of all tainted ministers

- Leads a delegation to President Mukherjee - 'CM protecting corrupt ministers' - White collar crimes on the rise, President told

Venkat Parsa New Delhi: Hours after two charge-sheeted Andhra Pradesh Ministers submitted their resignations, TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu on Monday led a delegation to President Pranab Mukherjee to seek his intervention to ensure that all tainted ministers in the State are sacked. He pleaded with the President to direct the Andhra Pradesh Governor to dismiss all corrupt and tainted ministers and convicted minister and to withdraw the sanction of legal assistance extended to those involved in corruption cases.

Naidu urged the President to direct the State Government to immediately withdraw financial assistance given to the corrupt and tainted ministers to defend their cases before the Supreme Court. The Andhra Pradesh Government, he said, should be directed to cooperate with the CBI and the prosecution agencies to punish the guilty. "The Chief Minister has been actively protecting the corrupt and the tainted ministers in the most deplorable manner, thus betraying the constitutional responsibility of acting in fairness and fearlessly. This attitude of the Chief Minister is nothing but an endorsement of corruption by people in high places, which needs to be condemned by all," he said.

The TDP leader also urged the President to direct the Central Government to make a coordinated effort to unearth all the dimensions of the scams and misuse of public money, keeping in view the serious observations of the Supreme Court. President Mukherjee gave a patient hearing and said he would examine and take whatever necessary action is required. Naidu told the President that white collar crimes are on the rise, which can hit the economy and may even derail economic reforms.

Chandrababu Naidu said there are projections that by 2030, only India and China will emerge as the major economies. In such a scenario, there is need for fiscal reforms to check the white collar crimes. He suggested to the President some steps like demonetisation of high denomination currency of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes, making transactions through banks compulsory and need for transparency. He also underlined the need for electoral reforms, which is at the root of the problem of corruption in India.

The TDP leader said the party will now discuss the issue and come up with a strategy on how to take the issue forward during the upcoming Mahanadu. The high-level TDP delegation led by Naidu included Nama Nageshwar Rao, Y S Chowdhury, C M Ramesh, Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, Uma Madhav Reddy, Revanth Reddy and Ravula Chandrashekhar Reddy, among others. A A Later, speaking to the media at Constitution Club in New Delhi, the TDP chief said Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy cannot claim credit for the action on the two tainted ministers, as he had rejected the resignations offered by Dharmana Prasad Rao and Sabitha Indra Reddy.

When CBI sought sanction of permission to prosecute the tainted ministers, he took the issue to the Cabinet to reject it, he said. Kiran Reddy, Naidu alleged, did everything to shield the tainted ministers. "This action of the ministers and the Chief Minister is nothing but a game plan to help each other," he said.

Naidu said the TDP had put into public domain enormous material about corruption during the tenure of Y S Rajashekhar Reddy. A He referred to the factual documents brought out by the TDP, Raja of Corruption and Mining Mafia, detailing the sordid manner in which public wealth was plundered during the tenure of the then Chief Minister Y S Rajashekhar Reddy to benefit his son Y S Jaganmohan Reddy and a few select individuals like BJP leader Gali Janardhan Reddy.

However, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh did not admonish YSR and instead extended full support to him, for reasons best known to them.A "As a result, corruption went unchecked and with the ill-gotten wealth, Y S Jaganmohan Reddy established a newspaper and news channel, apart from investing in several news channels and newspapers, only to attack political parties and to justify their corruption.