Jagan claims innocence after ruining AP economy

There have been several elections in the country. Many political parties came to power and fell out of grace when people rejected them. There were some scams including fodder scam in 1996 by the then Bihar Chief Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav.

Just to refresh the memory of old timers and to inform the present generation, the value of the fodder scam was just Rs 940 crore. Why I am saying just Rs 940 crore is because if one sees the kind of scams that are seen now, the quantum of scams of the yesteryears looks like peanuts.

So what happened in Bihar? On January 27, 1996 raids were conducted on the offices of the animal husbandry department in Chaibasa by CBI and it was found that there had been embezzlement of funds on a very large scale. It was found that the money was given from the government treasury to non-existent company’s purchase of fodder. What started as scam by low-level officers later revealed that even politicians were involved in it.

The then Comptroller and Auditor General of India, T N Chaturvedi, in his report felt that there was possible money laundering involved in it. The animal husbandry department had made fraudulent withdrawals of big bills of Rs 1,000 crore in the name of medicines during the chief ministerial tenure of Lalu Yadav. The Patna High Court directed CBI to investigate the scam. The case went on for over two decades and he was sentenced to jail and is presently out on bail.

Earlier in 1986 there was Bofors scam. The allegations were that there was a pay off Rs 64 crore. Here one thing needs to be noted. There was no issue about the quality of the guns. They were good weapons and their efficacy was proved even in the Kargil war. The issue in this case was the public servants and private persons both in India and abroad had entered into a criminal conspiracy between1982-87 and bribes were paid by

Swedish arms manufacturer A B Bofors for supply of 400 155-mm Howitzer guns to Indian politicians and defence personnel to secure the contract and finally the government fell.

Well, now I will explain why I called those scams as peanut scams. In 2001 we saw Ketan Parkeh stock market scam. which became popular as a pump and dump scheme. He used to look for stocks with low market, pump in money in those shares, and indulge in fictitious trading, lift the prices, take loans and lay orders. This led to banks which gave loans suffer losses. Then, came one of the biggest financial scams, Satyam Computers, in 2006-2008. An accounting fraud of Rs 7,000 crore was disclosed in the balance sheets. Later, it was the Harshad Mehta stock market scam. This was also one of the biggest financial scams in the history of India. He was finally arrested.

Another sensational scam was that of Nirav Modi which still keeps getting referred to in Parliament by LoP Rahul Gandhi. He had got fraudulent letter of undertakings worth Rs 10,000 crore from banks, imported pearls ignoring RBI guidelines.

There are other scams like Saradha scam worth Rs 4,000 crore in

West Bengal. We had seen the mother of scams during the UPA regime known as 2G scam which PM Narendra Modi keeps referring to in every election meeting even now. Another sensational scam was that of Commonwealth Games scam of Rs 35,000 crore. Another huge scam was that of BCCI earning Rs 24,195 crore from IPL rights but paid zero taxes on earnings. The BCCI denied this allegation and the issue is now in court.

How can we not mention the ‘King of Good Times’ Vijay Mallaya who owes Rs 9,000 crore to banks which he had taken as loans for Kingfisher Airlines. He is now a fugitive.

Now, we are witnessing another kind of economic terrorism like pushing state governments into serious and difficult situation where they are struggling to recover from debt-trap, looting of natural resources in Andhra Pradesh.

In Telangana, the allegations are that the BRS government indulged in a splurge of funds in the name of new irrigation projects ignoring the guidelines and cautions of the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) which had led to serious damage to the world’s biggest lift irrigation project Kaleshwaram. They had dumped the ongoing projects in the name of redesigning and this involves lot of corruption, the present government alleges.

Interestingly, in Andhra Pradesh, too, during same time, the lifeline of AP Polavaram project suffered huge losses in the name of reverse tendering.

While Meddigadda, Annaram and Sundilla barrages under Kaleshwaram project developed leaks and piers sunk in Telangana, the diaphragm wall of Polavaram got damaged and NDSA now advised that the old diaphragm wall be left as it is and a new one be constructed. This would cost over Rs 900 crore.

If the white paper presented in the State Assmbly on Friday is any indication, Andhra Pradesh’s financial health has deteriorated in recent years. Rs 9.74 lakh crore is the debt burden they had inherited as legacy from the YSRCP government. This means that debt every citizen including the new born have debt burden of Rs 1.44 lakh per head.

The present financial crisis is more than state bifurcation loss.

This is just one part of the economic terrorism. The misrule and loot of the previous YSRCP government is a perfect case study for the world to find out new techniques on how to ruin a state in every respect including the small funds available in the accounts of SHGs in an innovative manner using technology, stated Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. It was shocking to see that the state suffered a loss of Rs 45,000 crore due to damages and repairs to Polavaram project, the lifeline of AP. The number of contempt cases against officers was also the highest in the country.

Any responsible political party should have the courage to stand in the Assembly and counter these figures if they were wrong with proper data. But the new trend in Andhra Pradesh is that the former chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy refuses to enter assembly claiming that LoP status was his right even if he does not have the required strength as per rules. He speaks to media at his will, says whatever he wants to, levels allegations against the present government, ducks questions and closes the media meet. When in power, except their personal media, everyone was kept at bay. This trend is seen even in Telangana. Media was of least importance during the previous regime but today everyone rushes to the media point not out of love for the journalists but to use the medium to attack the government of the day. No one is interested in discussion on budget proposals whether it is in parliament or state assemblies. Create ruckus, walk out and speak anything they like before media is the latest style of politics. No one wants to respect people’s verdict. Ego is something that they never want to give up. This is how our leaders want to protect the Constitution. Desh Bachao is the need of the hour.