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| Shankar Rao |
Hyderabad, Sept. 27: The Andhra minister whose court petition led to a CBI probe against Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy has trained his guns on the state’s home and excise ministers.
Andhra Pradesh High Court today directed the government to order a CBI probe on P. Shankar Rao’s allegation that home minister Sabita Indra Reddy and excise minister Mopidevi Venkataramana took bribes to get work done.
Yesterday, textiles minister Rao had spoken out in a news conference against the two. Today, high court judge L. Narasimha Reddy took cognisance of a report on the media interaction and issued notices to the government and the ministers.
Rao had accused Sabita and Venkataramana of taking money from police officers to give them good postings. He then mocked the ministers saying if the government wanted to sell postings of police officers, it should invite tenders and appoint the highest bidder to the best post.
Rao’s supporters have started calling him “Shankar Dada” — a Munnabhai-like figure in Telugu films — because of his anti-corruption crusade.
The 55-year-old Rao also alleged that chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy was indifferent to his campaign against corruption in the administration.
Rao demanded that all ministers in the earlier Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy cabinet who had continued to hold their portfolios in the Kiran Reddy dispensation should be probed for corruption. Sabita was in Rajasekhara Reddy’s cabinet.
Rao had earlier filed a petition in the high court seeking a probe into the assets amassed by Jaganmohan Reddy, the son of former chief minister Rajasekhara Reddy. He is not the only person to have gone after Kiran Reddy.
Infrastructure minister Komtireddy Venkat Reddy yesterday said he was “ashamed to work under such a chief minister who is both a liar and deceiver”.
His remark came in response to Kiran Reddy’s denial that a report against the Telangana agitation had been sent to the Centre. While Venkat Reddy is a Telangana supporter, it is known that the chief minister had criticised the recent ceasework in Andhra by statehood supporters.
