Senior TDP leader Kalava Srinivasulu has alleged that the Ministers and MLAs of the YSRCP have been collectively stifling the KIA Motors with their “unrealistic demands for favours.”
A delegation of the TDP from Anantapur, headed by party district president B.K. Parthasarathi, tried address the media on Sunday right in front of the KIA Motors factory at Erramanchi by pitching a tent.
But the police removed the tent and made the TDP leaders leave the place stating that the KIA staff were not comfortable with such activities.
When Mr. Srinivasulu tried to persuade the police to allow them to address the media on a private land on the other side of NH 44, opposite the plant, the police did not budge.
The TDP, therefore, had to shift the venue of the media conference to a roadside restaurant nearby.
Later, the TDP leaders took a media team to Kodur village on the A.P.-Karnataka border to show the lands and buildings pertaining to the Lepakshi Knowledge Hub (LKH).
The TDP leaders demanded that a judicial probe be ordered into the scam involving LKH Special Economic Zone lands, as 8,844 acres was involved.
“If the government resumes the land, it can be given to genuine entrepreneurs to set up units,” they said.
While Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy could not keep his promise on LKH during his tenure as Chief Minister, N. Chandrababu Naidu was successful in bringing KIA Motors to the district, the TDP leaders said.
“If the government / SEZ developing agency is unable to set up any industrial unit, the land should be returned to the farmers of 22 villages who had parted with it for a price ranging between ₹50,000 and ₹1.75 lakh per acre,” said former government whip Palle Raghunatha Reddy.
A similar land scam in Obuladevaracheruvu mandal in the name of setting up a Science City had led to the suicide of many farmers, the TDP leaders alleged.
‘Questionable deal’
While the APIIC had taken land in March 2008 for setting up the LKH, it gave away lands to its head Shyam Prasad Reddy without any global competitive bidding during the Rajasekhara Reddy’s term on December 22, 2008.
The company was given a concession of ₹1 lakh per acre in the allotment price and 13% cut in service tax, former Hindupur MP Nimmala Krishtappa said.
The company promoter raised ₹690 crore from banks and used it for developing his own company, Indu Projects, he alleged.
Later, Indu Projects, in a quid pro quo, had invested ₹70 crore in Jagathi Publications, and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy’s role in it could not be ruled out, he said. “The Enforcement Directorate is looking into the issue by attaching the land,” he added.