Exchanges on fund misuse rock Council: N Lokesh

Amaravati: Legislative Council was rocked by heated arguments, allegations and counter allegations between the members of the TDP and YSRCP on diversion of government funds for the Pasupu-Kunkuma and misuse of funds allocated to State Council of Higher Education in the previous TDP rule.

N Lokesh and other TDP members entered into heated arguments with the education minister Audimulapu Suresh, minister for municipal administration Botcha Satyanarayana and water resources minister Anil Kumar Yadav during the question hour.

Lokesh took strong exception to the comments made by minister Suresh that Rs 180 crore related to IIIT were diverted to Pasupu-Kunkuma scheme by TDP government and former panchayat raj minister Lokesh had played key role in it. The minister had made this comment when the Council was discussing the allegations levelled against the AP State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) on misuse of funds.

Earlier, K S Lakshmana Rao, Yandapalli Srinivasulu Reddy and Vithapu Balasubramanyam asked the minister the details of the amounts spent under various schemes by Council of Higher Education. Replying to the question, Education Minister gave details of misuse of funds by APSCHE.

He said that the Council of Higher Education had entered into MoU with British Council and paid money for teaching of English language to about 85,000 students, but classes were conducted for only 51,340 students and the remaining 34,819 students are yet to get training.

He questioned how and why the Council of higher Education would pay money in advance to British Council, which is a private institution and in no way connected to British government.

Referring to Gnana Bheri programme conducted by Council of Higher education, he said the TDP government spent Rs 1.26 crore for the advertisements for the programme in which former Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu had conducted face to face interaction meeting with students in five cities in the state including Vijayawada, Tirupati and Vizag.

The Minister further said the government will probe the expenses incurred by Council of Higher education for various purposes including foreign trips made by officials. Referring to diversion of IIIT funds to Pasupu Kunkuma, he said seven former ministers were involved in it. Responding to it, Lokesh had asked the Minister to show the evidence.

He asked the Minister Suresh to withdraw his statement against the ministers or tender apology. The minister angrily reacted to it and made it clear that he would not tender apology. He said he had given clarification in the Council and he would not repeat it saying that as per rules the ministers give clarification only one time.

The TDP members staged protest near the Podium and demanded the minister to tender apology or withdraw the statement.The question hour was stalled for nearly four hours as Lokesh insisted that the Minister Suresh should tender apology or withdraw comments he made against the former ministers.

Lokesh had stated that he had not involved in looting of Rs.43,000 crore and there was no charge sheet against him. Minister Anil Yadav had ridiculed that Lokesh could not speak Telugu properly and Lokesh replied that he was in the US since 2008 and may not speak Telugu properly.

"I may not be good at Telugu but I was not involved in looting of Rs 43,000 crore and did not spend 16 months in the jail like Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy," he reorted.

It sparked protests from YSRCP members and ministers Botcha Satyanarayana and A Suresh. Finally, the Chairman of the Council Md Sharif said that he would verify the records and take a decision. The Council was adjourned amidst the uproar of TDP and YSRCP members.