Eatala Rajender questions link road to CM KCR's farmhouse

Hyderabad: A day after he was dropped from Council of Ministers over allegations of land encroachment, Eatala Rajender hit back at Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao asking him if link road to his farmhouse was not laid illegally through assigned and private lands.

Addressing a news conference here on Monday, Rajender alleged that the chief minister was using all institutions under his control to target him. He, however, made it clear that he was not the one to be cowed down.

"I am not scared by threats of arrests and cases. You have deployed hundreds of policemen around my house. Book whatever case you want to book against me. I will approach the court," he said.

Denying the allegations that he encroached assigned lands in two villages of Medak district, Rajender said he did no wrong and was ready to face impartial probe into his assets, income and businesses by a sitting judge and not by officials and committees that work under the chief minister.

He pointed out that those who conducted the investigation did not even seek their clarification. "We neither took five paise assistance from the government nor took five kunta land," he said.

Rajender alleged that the report by officials against him was full of lies. He said he was not director in Jamuna Hatcheries which was run by his wife and son. The investigators in report mentioned Jamuna as wife of Nitin.

They do not even know the relationship between mother and son. Moreover in such cases it is the MRO who conducts the probe and submits the report not the Collector. He said a team of officials from various departments, huge posse of police and others landed at Atchampet village and tutored the villagers on what to tell the probe team. The chief minister had ordered an inquiry against Rajender on April 30 after some farmers from Medak district complained to him that Rajender had encroached their assigned lands for his poultry farm. The next day, the chief minister took away health portfolio from Rajender. After the receipt of preliminary report from Medak district collector that 66 acres of assigned lands were encroached, Rajender was dropped from cabinet on Sunday.