Hyderabad: The Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy-led government in Andhra Pradesh cracked down on opposition TDP leaders in various corruption scams by arresting former labour minister K. Atchannaidu and a former MLA J.C. Prabhakara Reddy on Friday and Saturday. While TDP president and Opposition leader N. Chandrababu Naidu termed these arrests as vindictive, the ruling party hinted at more such arrests in the coming days. Atchannaidu, TDP’s deputy leader in the Assembly, was arrested by the sleuths of Andhra Pradesh anti-corruption bureau (ACB) for awarding purchase contracts on nomination basis in procurement of medical kits and other equipment for the employees’ state insurance (ESI) hospitals during 2014 and 2019. The total value of fraud is estimated at Rs 155 crore out of the total purchases of around Rs 988.77 crore.
Jagan’s government, which completed its first year in office on 30 May, focused its attention on a clutch of corruption cases that took place during the TDP regime. The early morning police crackdown at 7 am on Friday on the residence of Atchannaidu at Nimmada village of Tekkali Assembly constituency in Srikakulam district has created commotion as the TDP leader termed it as “police kidnap”. Later, in the night, he was produced before an ACB special court at Mangalagiri in Guntur district and the court remanded him for 14 days. The former minister, however, was immediately shifted to the Guntur Government Hospital for medical treatment for some complaints. Atchannaidu, while talking to media persons at the court, denied charges levelled against him. ACB’s joint director Ravi Kumar, who led the arrest operation, told the media that it was established in a prima facie investigation that the former minister was involved in the scam as he was responsible for purchase of test kits and other equipment, “without a proper process of tenders”. While awarding the contracts to some chosen contractors on nomination basis, the minister had committed fraud.
The ACB official said that the investigation was conducted by the state vigilance wing which found that certain agencies which were block-listed in neighbour Telangana were favoured by the directorate of insurance medical services (DIMS) which procured the material. The directorate comes under jurisdiction of the labour minister. Five other officials—former director of DIMS Dr C.K. Ramesh Kumar, director G. Vijaya Kumar, retired joint director Dr V. Janardhan, former superintendents M.K.B. Chakravarthy and A.E. Vijayakumar—too were arrested in the case. According to ACB officials, the purchases scam was intended to benefit a few chosen contractors at the cost of the exchequer. In another swoop down, former TDP MLA J.C. Prabhakara Reddy was arrested by Andhra Pradesh police at his Jubilee Hills residence in Hyderabad on Saturday morning. Prabhkara Reddy, who is the younger brother of former minister and former MP J.C. Diwakara Reddy, owns a fleet of private buses–JC Travels that runs interstate services.
Prabhakara Reddy was arrested on charges of producing fake insurance documents for registering his buses at various transport offices. Reddy, however, denied the charges. Former CM Naidu and Diwakara Reddy termed this arrest as part of CM Jagan’s vendetta against the opposition leaders in Andhra Pradesh. “I will not be surprised if I am arrested tomorrow,” Diwakara Reddy told the media in Hyderabad.
Meanwhile, several YSR Congress ministers and MLAs have justified these arrests on the ground that “those who had looted public money during the TDP regime should be brought to the book”. “These arrests have nothing to do with caste or creed of the accused, they are about curbing corruption,” said YSR Congress MLA and AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation chairperson R.K. Roja. “These arrests are just a trailer, the main picture is still ahead,” she said, indicating that more TDP leaders might be held in various ongoing investigations in Andhra Pradesh.