Skill Development Corporation scam: Karumuri questions Pawan’s silence

Vijayawada: Civil supplies minister Karumuri Venkata Nageswara Rao questioned the ‘silence’ of Jana Sena Party president Pawan Kalyan over the arrest of N Chandrababu Naidu in ‘Skill Development Corporation scam’. He said no one is above law and even former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was arrested.

Speaking to media persons at YSRCP central office in Tadepalli on Saturday, Nageswara Rao said that Pawan Kalyan himself alleged that Chandrababu Naidu and Lokesh had resorted to corruption. He said JSP leader was maintaining silence and failed to question the TDP on the scam. He said that Chandrababu Naidu himself signed 13 times on skill development corporation note files and brought pressure upon the officials to release funds. He said that the former CM was arrested as he was caught with necessary evidence. He should open his mouth at least now and reveal the facts to CID officials, he said. Nageswara Rao criticised the protests by TDP leaders over their party chief’s arrest since he was arrested in Rs 371 crore scam. “Surprisingly, the TDP leaders raised ‘Save Democracy’ slogans when Chandrababu Naidu has been arrested on charges of looting public money,” he remarked.

The minister said that the TDP leaders are not coming forward for a discussion on skill development scam in Assembly but at the same time were playing a sympathy card outside through ‘false propaganda’ describing the arrest ‘illegal’.

He claimed that Chandrababu was involved in several scams throughout his 14-year tenure as CM. He questioned why Naidu’s private secretary P Srinivas was sent to USA all of a sudden if he was clean in skill development scam and said that lobbyist in the scam Manoj Vasudev Pardasany had fled to Dubai. The minister said that Lokesh and his father-in-law were trying to take control of TDP taking advantage of Naidu’s arrest. “Balakrishna sat on Chandrababu’s chair in Assembly hall and raised slogans standing on the chair,” he added. He expressed surprise over silence of former minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu over arrest of Chandrababu Naidu in the scam. Ramakrishnudu as finance minister knows better the irregularities of Chandrababu Naidu, he remarked.