Vijayamma charges baseless: Congress MPs

In a statement, G. Vivekananda, Gutha Sukhender Reddy, Ponnam Prabhakar, Madhu Yaskhi, P. Balram Naik, Manda Jagannath and S. Rajaiah pointed out that the present inquiry by CBI was caused and ordered by the AP High Court in August last.

The Centre or the Congress party had no role to play.

The facts reveal that the CBI was following transparent, legitimate and legal procedure in the matter giving little scope for complaint. They lamented that the name of Ms. Sonia Gandhi and the Central government was dragged into these transparent developments in the State. Ms. Gandhi was known for her zero tolerance to corruption and criminalisation of politics, as indicated in her stern actions in many cases including 2G Spectrum, Commonwealth Games, Adarsh Society, where men in the highest positions, including Union Ministers and Chief Ministers were jailed and cases are pending.

‘Epicentre for corruption'

Meanwhile, Lok Satta Party President Jayaprakash Narayan said the arrest of Mr. Jaganmohan Reddy exemplified the rotten state of politics in the State.

Addressing the media here on Monday, Dr.JP said gloating over Mr. Jagan's arrest or accusing the CBI of vindictive action were both uncalled for. All the traditional parties in the State had been guilty of abusing power and indulging in corruption and transforming politics into business. The State, he said, had become the epicentre of corruption in the country.

In the by-election to the Ongole Assembly seat, the three traditional parties, Congress, Telugu Desam and YSRCP were said to be spending not less that Rs.20 crore each. Why would anybody spend so much to get elected as an MLA who earned a monthly salary of Rs.5,000 excluding allowances?.

The Lok Satta Party would fight for making the ACB and the CID in the State autonomous by filing public interest litigation in the High Court and also launch a movement from August 9 to create public awareness for eliminating corruption in public life.

Tirupati Special Correspondent adds: Former PCC president D. Srinivas who is campaigning in Tirupati, brushed aside Vijayamma's diatribe against Sonia Gandhi and the Congress party while Telugu Desam leaders G. Muddukrishnama Naidu and B. Gopalakrishna Reddy, both MLAs alleged she was aware of all the deals and as such a party to all the misdeeds because the deals were discussed and finalised in her presence by the late Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy.