Observing that the High Court, in the regular bail order of former chief minister, Chandrababu Naidu, has pointed out several lapses which generally are raised in the final order, Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and TDP MLA, Payyavula Kesav, here on Monday felt that the comments made by the High Court are a slap on the face of the Crime Investigation Department (CID) and the State Government.

Kesav told media persons here that the comments made by the High Court while granting the regular bail to Chandrababu are certainly a serious blow to both the CID and the YSRP Government who have been making cheap comments and baseless allegations against Chandrababu. “If the CIG and the State Government should feel ashamed for the comments made by the High Court while granting the regular bail to Chandrababu,” he remarked.

How whatever they see and imagine can be included in the case, Kesav asked both the CID and the State Government. Pointing out that the court has completely dismissed whatever the CID and the State Government have been claiming since beginning in the Skill Development case, the PAC Chairman said that despite questioning several witnesses and gathering upmteen documents, they could not gather even a single evidence that the Skill Development Corporation has suffered even a single rupee loss.

The court has come to a conclusion that they could not prove the charges and the comments made by the court prove beyond doubt that the cases have been registered only with political vendetta, Kesav remarked. Even on the forensic audit too, the court clearly felt that ‘is not agreed upon’ and ‘can not be relied upon,’ he observed.

The High Court questioned the petitioners how the then state government is responsible if someone at sometime failed to pay the taxes, he pointed out. Initially, they alleged Rs 3,000 cr corruption in the case, later brought it down to Rs 300 cr and then Rs 27 cr but finally to Rs 14 cr to Rs 15 cr, he added.

Even if the CID and the State Government utter blatant lies holding media conferences at several places, finally they have to produce evidence before the courts, Kesav said. They have made every attempt to make people believe that initially the Income Tax department has confirmed the money trial, later they said that the auditors of Pune finalised it and then passed it on to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), he said.

They finally tried to convert the donations given to the TDP as kickbacks and here too they got humiliated, Kesav noted. The PAC Chairman asked how advisor to the Governemnt, Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, can claim that they have forgotten to produce the evidence before the court.

The sole aim of the ruling YSRCP is to totally disturb the TDP and the arrests will not end with former chief minister, Chandrababu Naidu, observed the Chairman of Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and TDP MLA, Payyavula Kesav, on Wednesday.

Payyavula Kesav told media persons at the party headquarters here that when those who are to implement the law are working in coordination with the ruling party leaders they can apply these laws to anyone in any manner. “Whether it is the issue of assigned lands or Inner Ring Road or the Fibre Grid Project the policy of the Government is the same,” Payyavula Kesav remarked.

The PAC chairman is of the opinion that the arrests will not end with Chandrababu. “More TDP leaders will face a similar situation soon and the main aim of the ruling party is to completely disorganise the TDP,” he felt.

The TDP MLA said that the fear of losing power is haunting Chief Minister, Jagan Mohan Reddy, due to which he is now moving in the wrong direction to take revenge on Chandrababu. The strategy is to divert the public attention with the arrest of Chandrababu and ultimately to destabilise the TDP, he observed.

This is nothing but a conspiracy to weaken the TDP as Jagan knows pretty well that he and his Government are going to face defeat. Jagan is well aware that his party will not come back to power and thus he wants at least to undermine the TDP, Payyavula stated.

People are aware as to how the former prime minister, the late Indra Gandhi, faced the consequences for acting like a dictator worse than Jagan, the PAC chairman said. He strongly believed that Jagan’s party will confine itself to a mere two or three seats in the coming elections.

Anti-incumbency is growing alarmingly by the day and Jagan’s prestige is almost touching the bottom due to the spiralling prices of essentials, large number of farmers suicides, increasing corruption and problems being faced by women, Payyavula maintained. Jagan is thus resorting to this kind of heinous act, the PAC chairman added.

Payyavula dared the State Government to publish in detail a white paper on how much was paid to the advocates in these four years to utilise their services in the legal system. The Jagan Mohan Reddy Government is using the lower rung of the police force in some way and the CID in another way to misuse the legal machinery, the TDP MLA noted.

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman and senior TDP leader, Payyavula Kesav, on Thursday demanded Chief Minister, Jagan Mohan Reddy, to answer as to why the State revenue has not increased when the growth rate has gone up.

Talking to media persons at the party headquarters here, Kesav asked Jagan whether he can come out with facts on what was the growth rate and revenue of the State during Chandrababu Naidu regime and what is the growth rate and revenue in the past four years.

Terming Jagan as a great capitalist but not an economist, Kesav said, in a rather sarcastic way, that the global organisations are eager to study the economic policies of Jagan.

He asked how the Government revenue goes up without increasing the capital expenditure on primary sectors. The lakhs of crores of development that is projected in the State budgetary proposals is not seen at the grassroots level, Payayvula felt.

Recalling Jagan’s remarks as the leader of the Opposition during the TDP regime when the budgetary proposals were presented to the Assembly that if the growth rate increases the revenue of the State too should go up, Payyavula asked the Chief Minister to answer as to why the revenue has not increased despite the growth rate is up.

The PAC Chairman felt that Minister for Finance, Buggana Rajendranath, as is his wont, has made every attempt to take the people of the State into an imaginary world in the last budget of this Government. When compared to the expenditure made by the TDP government for irrigation and other sectors, the funds being spent by this Government do not match at all, Payyavula observed.

“The Jagan Mohan Reddy Government did not spend even Rs 20,000 cr in the past four years for primary sectors,” he said, adding that even this amount was spent to clear the pending bills. Jagan is strong only in the cash war and he is going to implement it in the coming polls, Payyavula Kesav remarked.

The TDP MLA expressed surprise as to why Jagan’s Delhi visit is confirmed only when some notices are served on his associates. Payavula Kesav made it clear that the Backward Classes in the State always own the TDP and not the YSRCP.

Public Accounts Committee (PAC) chairman and TDP MLA, Payyavula Kesav, on Wednesday said that the Jagan Mohan Reddy Government was levelling baseless charges against the earlier TDP regime with regard to the Skill Development project and announced that his party will wage a legal battle to bring the facts to light.

Talking to media persons, Payyav Kesav asked whether the Crime Investigation Department (CID), which is claiming that funds have been deposited with the accounts of the TDP leaders, can give the details to whose accounts the funds were deposited, when and from where.

Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy, who destroyed the Skill Development project which is aimed at paving a beautiful future to the youth, is shamelessly making baseless charges against the TDP, Kesav remarked.

If Siemens organisation commits a mistake, how former chief minister, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, is responsible for that, Payyavula Kesav asked and pointed out that the same Siemens organisation had entered into agreements with six State Governments before signing a MoU with the AP government.

It is almost four years since Jagan Mohan Reddy came to power and why all these years he is keeping silent and why the Chief Minister could not decide anything on this matter, Kesav asked. Chandrababu Naidu has transformed Hyderabad city into an IT Hub and after the bifurcation he also wanted to provide better job opportunities to the youth and thus the TDP government entered into an agreement with the Siemens organisation, he added.

Mentioning a report that chairman of the Siemens, Suman Bose, had benefited some politicians, Kesav asked in which way it is related to Chandrababu. Siemens is a German-based company and it has its offices in over 160 countries. After learning that it is training the youth in Gujarat and after studying its activities, Chandrababu signed the MoU with the company, Kesav explained.

If the Siemens commits a mistake how Chandrababu is responsible for that, he said, adding that a document relating to the Siemens is being produced before the public and Jagan, his Ministers besides the other ruling party leaders should respond after going through the paper. The agreement entered into with Siemens clearly defined what it should do and what its sister concern, Design Tech should do, he stated.

TDP MLA and chairman of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Payyavula Kesav, on Tuesday said that Chief Minister, Jgan Mohan Reddy, is favouring his own associates in power purchasing tenders thus forcing the government to lose heavily.

Kesav told media persons through Zoom that by favouring his own men in power purchase agreements, the State government is imposing a heavy burden on the common man. Stating that Jagan Mohan Reddy, soon after becoming the Chief Minister in his maiden speech levelled several allegations against the TDP government that several irregularities had taken place in the purchase of solar power, Kesav said that the Chief Minister even declared that a probe would be ordered into these irregularities.

“Later, on the floor of the Assembly too, Jagan made several charges against the TDP government and tried to make people believe these issues,” Kesav said and asked if any irregularities had taken place during Chandrababu Naidu’s regime why the Jagan government is keeping mum till now. The ruling party even knocked at the High Court doors too and finally felt embarrassed, he added.

The High Court has made it clear that there were absolutely no irregularities in the power purchase agreements during the Chandrababu regime, Kesav said and stated that the Jagan government too agreed with the High Court order. The government even released the necessary funds, but the Jagan Reddy government’s statements only resulted in the investors to take back their decisions, he stated.

The situation has come to such a pass that the whole country is not believing the Andhra Pradesh government, the MLA said and stated that the decisions taken by the Jagan government seriously hit the power sector. The State government which made a large-scale false campaign on the solar power sector has again recalled tenders only to hand over the contracts to its yesmen and thus cancelled the tenders called during the TDP regime, he said.

“When the government tried to allot the contracts to the Adani Group, the Tata Group approached the court. Finally, the court cancelled the contracts saying that these contracts are being illegally allotted to the Adani Group,” he remarked.

Kesav asked as to why the State government tried to accept the tenders by a contractor which were rejected by the whole country. This is nothing but to favour close associates of Jagan, he remarked.

Maintaining that the TDP wants to ensure that the people should not suffer any losses due to the faulty policies of the ruling dispensation, Kesav asked why the tenders were allotted in a pumped storage system against the Central norms and against the Supreme Court order. He felt that the tender system should be transparent and demanded that the agreements be reviewed.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) on Wednesday expressed serious concern over the deeper financial crisis in Andhra Pradesh which is pushing the State into the worst economic emergency.

Talking to media persons over zoom, party MLA and Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee Payyavula Keshav said that the TDP has been saying for the past four months that the State is following the path of Sri Lanka. The Andhra Pradesh Government has borrowed funds four times more than Sri Lanka and challenged the Jagan Mohan Reddy Government whether it is ready for an open and special audit.

An in-depth study be done on the financial situation of the State as Andhra Pradesh is in the most perilous situation, he added. Pointing out that the Reserve Bank of India has prepared the risk analysis and the Union Finance Ministry has made a presentation on this in which Andhra Pradesh is either on top or in second place in all the index, Mr Payyavula said that this risk analysis is made strictly on the guidelines of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

“This is only a tip of the iceberg,” the TDP leader said and expressed serious concern that a special financial situation is prevailing in the State. Accounts for Rs 40,000 to Rs 50,000 c are not made public yet and if this too comes out then one can easily imagine the situation, he felt. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) should bring the facts to light and the qualifying certificate issued to the State by the CAG is unique as no other State till now got such certificate, he added.

If the State faces a situation like Sri Lanka, leaders may run away from the State but the common man is the worst-hit as he will not find a place to go. “We have earlier seen persons like Vijay Malya and Gotabaya running away leaving the people in the lurch,” he said.

Stating that he is ready for an open debate on the economic crisis of the State, Mr Payyavula demanded a white paper on the present economic situation of the State. The State Government should provide the accounts details to the CAG or the CAG, with its powers, should demand them, he added.