Minister Peddireddy Ramachandra has justified the arrest of Telugu Desam Party chief Chandrababu Naidu in the Skill Development Corporation scam and said this was just “the tip of the iceberg” and more scams of the former chief minister would surface soon.
The minister told the media that numerous pending cases against Naidu are being taken forward by the investigating agencies.Naidu’s arrest was not politically motivated and the AP crime branch and CID officials acted in accordance with established norms and procedures, he stressed.
Peddireddy said TDP leaders and Naidu’s legal counsel did not deny any wrongdoing on the part of the TDP chief.They rather raised technical issues like non-seeking of permission from the Governor for the arrest and the delay in Naidu’s production in court, he said.
“The public is well aware of Naidu’s previous attempts to delay corruption cases against him.The law is taking its due course.There have been no significant public protests against Chandrababu’s arrest,” he said.
Industries minister Gudivada Amarnath said, “All the people here know what were Chandrababu’s assets when he entered politics.He had only two acres of land.
Once he became a politician, he looted crores of rupees from various sources.Is Chandrababu ready to face a case on his disproportionate assets?”
The minister told the media that Naidu was the only former chief minister in AP who has been jailed for corruption in the 75-year history of independent India.
“Babu is the ‘abhinava Veerappan’ (forest brigand) who committed many crimes and thought the system was in his favour and he will not be punished.Finally, Babu ended up in prison.”
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