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AP Congress files 22 petitions against Naidu

Shireen in Hyderabad

The Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee has filed a record number of 22 writ petitions in the High Court seeking a series of directions against Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu.

The petitions, filed as public interest litigations on Monday, are yet to be taken on file. The Court Registry is processing them and they will be placed before a division bench which will hear the counsels on their admissibility.

APCC President Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy and 39 of his partymen, including legislators and former MPs, have listed out various acts of omission and commission of the chief minister and the Telugu Desam Party government in the petitions.

In recent months, the APCC president and other Congress leaders have made numerous representations to President K R Narayanan, Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, Governor Dr C Rangarajan and Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill, making several allegations against Naidu and demanding action against him.

Dr Rajasekhar Reddy, in fact, had dashed off six open letters to the chief minister, accusing him of amassing assets worth Rs 10.46 billion (Rs 1,046 crore) over the last four years of his rule. The charges against Naidu related to corruption, favouritism, nepotism and violations of various rules and statutory provisions.

The APCC had also sought the sanction of the president and the governor to prosecute the chief minister on various counts. However, the APCC received no response from either the Government of India or the governor on the issue.

In one of the writ petitions, the APCC has now sought a direction from the High Court to the governor for according permission for prosecution of the chief minister for numerous offences under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act for acquiring and possessing assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The petitioners have also sought appointment of a high-powered judicial commission and institution of a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry to probe the charges made against Naidu.

The petitioners have sought specific reliefs with regard to various irregularities committed by the state government and the chief minister.

These pertain to award of contracts to Larsen & Toubro for various projects, acquisition of land near Begumpet airport, accumulation of assets by chief minister and his family, allotment of land to NTR Memorial Trust, irregularities in the power purchase agreements with private independent power producers, and allotment of Kakinada and Vodarevu ports to private parties.

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