Sri Bharat hits out at Botsa over land allegations
Actor-MLA Nandamuri Balakrishna’s son-in-law Sri Bharat has dismissed allegations that their family is wrongfully given land allotments in Andhra Capital City area. He gave his clarification over Minister Botsa Satyanarayana’s statement on the land irregularities allegedly taken place during previous TDP Regime. Sri Bharat asserted that their family got allotment of 498.39 acres land at Jayanthipuram in Krishna district way back in 2007 and not during Chandrababu rule.
Sri Bharat said that this land allotment was made by the APIIC for a gas-based power plant in 2012 when a GO was issued. He said that the whole land allotment took place prior to his marriage with daughter of Balakrishna. Sri Bharat condemned the statements of Botsa Satyanarayana. Moreover, these lands are located at nearly 80 kms distance from Amaravati Capital City area.
The ruling YCP leaders say that these lands were given to Balakrishna’s relatives during former chief minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy’s time. There was collusion of Chandrababu Naidu and Kiran Kumar in this issue. The lands were allotted at a cheaper rate of Rs. 1 lakh per acre. However, Sri Bharat asserted that this cost was in fact increased by APIIC against the already quoted price at that time.
Sujana relative has 14 acres in Capital: Botsa
The war of words between the YCP and the BJP intensified on Andhra Capital. Minister Botsa Satyanarayana said that BJP MP Sujana Chowdary’s brother’s daughter Rushi Kanya has got 14 acres at Gokarajupalem in Veerulapadu mandal in Amaravati area. This property is related to the Greentech company which is one among the 120 companies that Sujana has.
Botsa announced this at a media conference only to prove that Sujana has lied that he has no property in the Capital. He says that nearly 25,000 sq yards land is under the name of several persons in land pooling which is also against norms. All these things prove that there was insider trading in Amaravati. The Minister asserted that the Capital should not belong to any particular caste or party.
Botsa said that collapse of real estate is bothering only the TDP leaders but it is a fact that real estate sector has greatly improved in Vijayawada, Tirupati, Visakhapatnam, Guntur, etc. He further said that the YCP government will dig out all corruption in the Capital land pooling and take action against the guilty persons.
Minister Botsa again spews venom on Amaravati
None can beat Municipal Administration Minister Botsa Satyanarayana in aggravating a given crisis quickly. For the third time in the last four days, Botsa again made shocking comments on the Andhra Capital. He says that insider real estate trading took place in the overall land pooling exercise in which one particular party derived all the benefits. The names of those guilty of committing irregularities in Capital City lands would be announced soon.
Botsa says that if required, necessary details will also be revealed at an appropriate time on the involvement of BJP MP Sujana Chowdary in lands irregularities. The Minister said that the government knows how to clarify the doubts and suspicions among the people on the issue of shifting Andhra Capital from Amaravati.
Somehow, it is clear that Jagan Circar is preparing the Andhra people for its crucial decision on Capital shifting. This may happen sooner than later going by the Minister’s continuing comments. In fact, Jagan promised not to shift Capital during his campaign meetings prior to 2019 elections. Now, his strategy totally shifted on how to remove all traces of the previous TDP regime in both welfare and development projects. Surprisingly, Jagan is not bothering to destroy the multi-crore Amaravati project.
Botsa said that soon, the government would make payments towards the rental dues for the Capital City farmers. He asserted that the farmers were only agitating for their rents and not against the YCP government’s policies as a whole.
AP Minister counters Pawan but not BJP?
It is now being confirmed that the ruling YCP is unwilling to show transparency in governance and administration. Confusion and shock treatment are the hallmarks of the Jaganmohan Reddy government. The entire Opposition has started mocking and insulting the ruling party on different issues. Still, Ministers and MLAs remain insensitive, non-serious, blunt and confusing. Now, Minister Botsa Satyanarayana repeated his same old confusing statement on Amaravati. Moreover, he so wisely clarified to Pawan Kalyan that Andhra Capital City does not belong to any one caste or any one person. But he so cleverly did not talk about BJP leaders’ criticism of YCP Capital policy.
Going by his track record, Botsa is known for creating confusion and complicating systems. If he wants to counter Jana Senani remarks, he would have given clarity as to what the government is going to do to Amaravati. The Minister should make clear whether Capital will be shifted to Donakonda or whether a separate Government offices complex would be built near Mangalagiri or whether it has any other plan.
Instead of giving clarity, Botsa has added further confusion once again. That is what he and this government is good at. If Jagan Circar is really confident of its policies, it should put them before and boldly go forward. Where is the need for mystery? The government may be giving shock treatments to TDP leaders like Kodela Sivaprasada Rao. But it is doing the same to AP people also by stopping Amaravati works and not giving any clarification on its policies.
CBI court summons Andhra minister in Volkswagen case
A special court dealing with CBI cases on Friday issued summons to Andhra Pradesh Cabinet minister Botsa Satyanarayana in a 14-year-old Volkswagen case.
The court asked Satyanarayana, a witness in the case, to appear in the court on September 12 to record his statement.
Satyanarayana was the Industry Minister in the Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy government in undivided Andhra Pradesh in 2005 when the scandal had surfaced.
Satyanarayana, then a Congress leader, is currently the Minister of Urban Development in the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government led by Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy.
The state government had allegedly paid Rs 11.67 crore to Vashishta Vahan Pvt Ltd, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) of German carmaker Volkswagen, floated for setting up a manufacturing unit at Visakhapatnam in Andhra Pradesh. However, Vashishta Vahan turned out to be a fictitious entity.
The scam came to light in 2005 when Volkswagen sacked its then head of Indian operations Helmuth Schuster on charges of corruption in some other dealings. Schuster was negotiating with the state government on behalf of Volkswagen for setting up the car plant in Visakhapatnam.
Following allegations by the opposition that Satyanarayana and some others paid the money to Vashistha Vahan through “dubious” means, the state government ordered the probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
The CBI in 2010 filed charge-sheet against six accused, including Schuster. They were charged with criminal conspiracy and cheating. However, Satyanarayana was included as a witness in the case.
The other accused include businessman Jagdish Alaga Raja and his sister Gayatri Chandravadanan, Ashok Kumar Jain, Bhuwan Kumar Chaturvedi and Joseph V George. They allegedly colluded with Schuster in floating Vashishta Vahan.
In 2015, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had also filed a charge-sheet in the case.
Meanwhile, Satyanarayana told reporters in Amaravati that he was only a witness in the case. He said he was summoned as the 60th witness in the case.
Botsa diversionary comments on Amaravati
Whenever YCP is facing all-round criticism on Amaravati, Municipal Administration Minister Botsa Satyanarayana enters the scene to divert people’s attention. He is not seen around even at the peak of floods in Vijayawada Municipal Corporation limits. All of a sudden, he appeared before the media now and made a sensational but confusing statement on Capital City. Botsa said that Amaravati is prone to floods and massive funds are required to construct canals and bridges to prevent flooding of core capital areas.
Botsa further said that there is a lot of discussion is going on within the government on the issue of Amaravati construction and that a final decision will be taken soon on its fate. The Minister made similar comments in the past also but no daring steps have been taken till now. It is true CM Jaganmohan Reddy is not interested in continuing Amaravati as capital city. But he is hesitating to shift capital right now fearing large scale backlash from all coastal districts except Nellore which is dominated by his caste leaders.
Analysts say that Botsa’s comments triggered fears among coastal people as there are already doubts about floods being deliberately caused and used as an excuse by the government to shift capital. At the same time, observers say that Botsa’s comments are intended to divert attention of coastal people from all-round criticism on mismanagement of floods.
Senior BC Minister unhappy with Jagan Reddy style
Municipal Administration Minister Botsa Satyanarayana is an innocent-looking, loyal and straightforward leader. His closeness to YSR was known very well. But Sathi Babu, as he is popularly known, is not able to adjust well with the leadership style of YSR’s son Jaganmohan Reddy now. In his capacity as a senior BC Minister, he was taking some liberty and making clarifications that Amaravati Capital City construction will be continued.
As Sathi Babu was about making further comments, Jagan Reddy has reportedly called him separately and instructed him not to talk about Capital City construction. Though CM is not openly saying anything on Amaravati, the internal talk is that he is not at all interested in continuing the Capital in this place. Jagan Reddy is also not interested to lay even a single brick in Capital City during his present regime.
Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath Reddy is clearly making statements now that the government’s priority is not Amaravati. These comments by CM and other Reddy Ministers from Rayalaseema have hurt Botcha very badly. He started maintaining a low profile and not attending the review meetings of the Capital Regional Development Authority. The senior BC Minister’s followers are saying that their leader is not getting the respect due to his seniority. There is also talk that except making 5 deputy CMs from SC, ST, BC, Kapud and Minorities, there is no corresponding respect to these communities in really important posts which are mostly bagged by Reddys.
Why TDP tried to ally with TRS before Telangana election, asks Botsa
There has been mixed reactions from common people as well as YSRCP cadres on Jagan’s meeting with KTR. Even though both TRS and YSRCP leaders are saying the meeting is only about federal front and national politics, people of Andhra Pradesh are believing that KCR wants to involve in AP elections as Chandrababu Naidu tried to put his fingers in Telangana during 2018 election.
Today Botsa Satyanarayana, YSRCP leader, convened a press meet to justify Jagan joining hands with TRS. Before this, TDP leaders have been reminding people about the injustice meted out to state of Andhra Pradesh because of bifurcation and also the rude comments made by KCR during Telangana movement. Botsa Satyanarayana responded on this propaganda and questioned TDP, ” if TRS is such a bad political party for Andhra Pradesh, why TDP tried to ally with that party before election”. He reminded, Chandrababu Naidu himself announced that he tried his level best to ally with TRS but KCR rejected his proposal.
It seems YSRCP leaders are trying their level best to defend the decision of their supremo. We will have to wait and see what will be the impact of this decision.
Is the Govt. interested only in Horse-trading? – Botsa Satyanarayana!
Former Congress MP and current YSRCP leader Botsa Satyanarayana questioned the government’s commitment towards serving the people of Andhra Pradesh. In a press meet, Botsa questioned what steps the AP Govt. took regarding the widespread of diarrhea in Guntur district.
‘10 people lost their lives because of diarrhea in Guntur. Even then, no preventive measures are being taken. I really doubt whether AP is being run by any government or not.
Moreover, it is really sad to hold lower-level officers responsible for the deaths due to diarrhea. Whoever is seeing the Health Ministry should be immediately suspended from the State Cabinet. How can government act so irresponsibly, when diarrhea is present close to CM, ministers, and secretaries residences?
Is the government interested only in horse-trading? Why is it not bothered about people’s problems?’, questioned Botsa Satyanarayana in a press meet.
More than 90 people have been admitted to Guntur district hospital after water contamination triggered diarrhea. 10 deaths have been officially confirmed due to diarrhea in the past 10 days in Guntur.
