New Delhi: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajashekhara Reddy has challenged his predecessor Chandrababu Naidu to take him to court over allegations that he has violated the state's land reform laws.
In an exclusive interview to CNN-IBN’s Karan Thapar on Devil’s Advocate, Reddy insisted he has not acted unlawfully and denies targeting newspaper Eenadu and media baron Ramaji Rao because of the scandals they have exposed.
Reddy also clarified that the reason why he and his family possessed 310 acres of 'assigned' land for almost 30 years without surrendering them was because they were ignorant of the facts.
“Ignorance of fact is no crime. The moment I came to know that a particular land when traced back to the 1905 record of ryots could be assigned land, I immediately made all the members of my family to come forward and surrender this land voluntarily. This land was not purchased by me. It was purchased by my father 30 years back. The moment the fact was brought to my notice I surrendered it. The fact was never brought to my notice (earlier),” Reddy said.
Specifically responding to the fact that Chandrababu Naidu’s allegations and complaints to the Prime Minister, Reddy said he was ready to fight it out till the end.
"I request Chandrababu Naidu to jolly well file complaints in the urban courts of law and prove that I've done something wrong. I'm challenging him to take me to any court of his choice,” he said and during the course of the show, reiterated this challenge four times.
So why - given the serious allegations made against him – has Reddy not stepped aside and asked the District Collector of Kadappa - where the lands are located - to decide on the prosecution? "If there was at least a prima facia case against me I could do that. But there isn't. Everyday Chandrababu Naidu goes on alleging something or the other. If I go on resigning for everything and anything he alleges I'll have to resign in 365 days 365 times," he said, adding, "If there's anything wrong with these 180 acres let Chandrababu Naidu go to any relevant court in the land and take action against me. Unless there's a prima facia case, why should I resign?"
In the interview the Andhra Chief Minister was also questioned about the 997 acres at Kundur which he separately surrendered in January.
Asked about Opposition allegations that the majority of this land was agricultural, contrary to the Chief Minister's claim that it was unfit for cultivation, Reddy used the occasion to level his third challenge against Chandrababu Naidu. "The Opposition is totally wrong. I challenge the Opposition - once again - to go to court," he said.
The Chief Minister denied that either he or his family or their companies own benami land in Andhra Pradesh. "To the best of my knowledge whatever has been done nothing is unlawful. I only want to say that. If at all there's anything unlawful let Chandrababu Naidu agitate about this in court."
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However when questioned about Opposition claims that he has, on the one hand, declared the land at Kundur as non-agricultural land for land ceiling purposes but declared for income tax purposes the income from this land as agricultural, the Chief Minister seemed to accept that an error may have been made. Given below an extract from this part of the interview:-
Reddy: At the point of time I don't know or didn't know what has been filed in income tax.
Karan Thapar: So, once again, you're ignorant of what you're filing in income tax?
Reddy: About this particular land because I own so many lands in so many places.
Karan Thapar: Ah! You're so rich, you have so much land in so many places, you don't know what you're talking about?
Reddy: Again, I'm telling you, whatever has been filed in income tax has been filed. But if there's anything wrong in any of the filings or declarations again I challenge the Opposition to go to the court. It's the fourth time I'm challenging him in this interview to go to court.
There are also allegations that he has tried to intimidate media baron Ramaji Rao and his finance company, Margadarsi Financiers, because their newspaper Eenadu has levelled serious charges of corruption against his government and his family in the outer ring road scandal. "This is totally unfounded. Its totally baseless. I'm not here to intimidate anyone. When the allegations (against my family) were there I immediately constituted a CBI inquiry, I constituted a judicial inquiry. If at all there was anything for me or my family or my government to hide why would I do all of this?"
So when the RBI was already looking into the matter, what was the need to appoint a special advisor and a CID inquiry to investigate Margadarsi Financiers?
"Do you mean to say that if Mr. Ramaji Rao has done something illegal and its brought to the notice of the government, the government should not act against him? What government has done is as per law. The government has only done its duty. Its nothing less and nothing more," he said.
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