Vijayawada: Congress questions Centre’s silence on corruption in YSRCP government

Vijayawada : Senior Congress leader and Andhra Pradesh Congress affairs in-charge Manickam Tagore questioned why the BJP-led Central government is not taking action on the YSRCP government over the illegal sand mining and looting of state. He said the Union ministry of forests and environment and climate change told the Andhra Pradesh High Court that there was illegal sand mining in Andhra Pradesh. Addressing the media at Andhra Ratna Bhavan here on Thursday, the AP in-charge asked why the Union government is not taking action on the state government in spite of knowing the facts about the illegal sand mining and damage it caused to the ecological balance in the state.

He said the Andhra Pradesh government is making huge amount of money by illegal sand mining and showing less revenue in the state budget causing loss to the state exchequer. Tagore alleged that Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and the BJP government at the Centre are working hand-in-glove and pointed out that the AP MPs supported the Central government in passing 16 bills in Parliament.

He said without the support of YSRCP, the Central government could not have passed some bills in Rajya Sabha. The Centre is not taking action on the YSRCP government despite knowing everything about the illegal sand mining and environmental damage being inflicted on the state.

Tagore said the YSRCP Rajya Sabha floor leader V Vijayasai Reddy is openly supporting the decisions of the BJP government. “YSRCP has extended support to the BJP government for passing important bills like farmers bills, Triple Talaq and many others. The YSRCP is extending unconditional support to the BJP for passing these bills. The Andhra Pradesh government could have bargained on some issues to protect the interests of the state, but it did not choose to do so,” he remarked.

He alleged that TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu completely surrendered to the BJP. The Congress leader questioned why the TDP chief met home minister Amit Shah at his residence in Delhi at midnight and what was the need for meeting. He said Naidu could have met the next day.

Referring to farmers’ agitation near Delhi, he said the Congress has extended support to the farmers agitation and would always support the farmers. AICC special invitee Gidugu Rudra Raju, former Union minister JD Seelam, APCC working presidents Sunkara Padmasri and Mastan Vali and others were present.