YSR Congress - the main opposition party in Andhra Pradesh - is bracing for a "maha dharna" (big demonstration) here on Thursday in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue in front of the municipal corporation office, seeking a CBI probe into what it terms as "a huge land scam perpetrated by the Chief Minister, his son, and influential TDP leaders in Visakhapatnam district."

On the eve of the proposed "maha dharna", Rajya Sabha member and YSR Congress leader Vijaya Sai Reddy told the media here on Wednesday that YSR Congress leader Y.S Jagan Mohan Reddy himself would lead the dharna and other opposition parties would also join the protest programme.

He said the magnitude of the "scam" could be gauged by the fact that more than a lakh acres was involved in Visakhapatnam city and the district. "With impunity the land records have been tampered with, and all sorts of lands - assigned lands, endowment lands, forest lands, Government lands and even private lands - have been gobbled up. In Visakhapatnam city alone, lands worth Rs 3,000 crores belonging to the erstwhile Dasapalla estate have been grabbed by people belonging to one section of society. It is an open secret."

Naming the Chief Minister, his son, and the influential TDP leaders in the city and the district, including several TDP legislators, he said the State Government had constituted a special investigation team (SIT) to inquire into the affair, which was merely an eyewash. "Only a CBI probe will bring out the facts," he said.

Vijaya Sai Reddy alleged that the Chief Minister had ruined the image of Visakhapatnam. "Two partnership summits have been conducted and MoUs worth more than Rs 6 lakh crore have been signed but the actual investment till now is hardly Rs 100 crores, and yet the Chief Minister is generating huge hype," he said.

He warned the Telugu Desam leaders that the YSR Congress would come to power in 2019 and "then all the TDP leaders involved in the land scam will be in jail."

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW