TSR to slap defamation case on Daggubati for Rs 5 cr

Daggubati shrug off threat, says he will reveal more in court

Visakhapatnam: Rajya Sabha Member T Subbarami Reddy, who has been locked with Parachuru MLA Daggubati Venkateswara Rao and his wife and Union Minister Purandeswari, who represents Visakhapatnam Lok Sabha seat, on Thursday threatened his bête noire with a Rs 5-crore defamation suit if the 'baseless' charges against him were not withdrawn forthwith.

Addressing a press meet here, TSR seethed over Daggubati's charges that he knew TSR from the time the latter was arrested for irregularities in cement contract for the Nagarjuna Sagar dam project. He said Daggubati had lost his mental balance and was acting like an immature politician. He said that indeed he was very much in the fray for Vizag Lok Sabha seat and that he could stake claim to it in view of various developmental works undertaken by him for the city. He, however, said that he would abide by the party high command.

He said that Daggubati was referring to the cement scam only to mislead the present generation. He clarified that a watchman was caught with 80 cement bags worth Rs 4,000 in 1981 while he was allegedly shifting the material for sale, and a complaint was lodged. "The High Court has given me a clean chit that I was not at all connected with the case. Even without knowing the case record and the High Court verdict, passing such derogative remarks is nothing but his political immaturity and that is why I prefer to file a defamation case," he maintained.

TSR even displayed a gold medal which he said was presented to him by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in recognition of his good project work for the Nagarjuna Sagar Project.A He said Daggubati began his 'political arangetram' with the Telugu Desam Party and later switched on to the Bharatiya Janata Party. When the BJP pushed him out, he approached TSR who took him to the Congress high command.

On another charge by Daggubati that "TSR presents worthless awards, titles and felicitates film stars," he asked if it was any wrong to honour great stars like Sivaji Ganeshan, Dr ANR, Nagarjuna, Mohanbabu, Brahmanandam, SP Balasubrahmanyam, P Suseela and S Janaki. He questioned whether they belonged to a lower rung of citizens.

"If you people have courage and heart to serve the poor and the needy with your own funds, do the service and get the love and affection from the people and not mudsling a leader like me for your political gains," he cautioned. To a query, he replied that he had never asked the Union Minister Purandeswari to contest from Narasaraopet.

Meanwhile, Daggubati told the media in Hyderabad on Thursday that he would welcome the move of Subbarami Reddy to go to court. He said he spoke very little before the media and he would come out with more details in the court. He said that he did not want to prolong the matter, but TSR again raked up the issue, forcing him to speak again. He said he had full details about the omissions and commissions of TSR and would expose them in the court.