VIJAYAWADA: In a scathing attack against the TDP Government, BJP MLC Somu Veerraju has alleged that corruption is rampant in all the departments.Speaking to mediapersons here on Saturday, he said BJP was ready to expose corruption in the Naidu government and sought to know if Jana Sena Party (JSP) president Pawan Kalyan, Lok Satta chief Jayaprakash Narayan, CPI State secretary K Ramakrishna and others - who had formed a Joint Fact-finding Committee on the implementation of bifurcation promises - would take the responsibility of looking into the issue.
Veerraju said irregularities in the Pattiseema project were a glaring example of corruption in the State government. “Misappropriation of funds is all too evident in the implementation of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS), Neeru-Chettu scheme and Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). Funds are being siphoned off even while executing the project of construction of personal toilets. The resettlement and rehabilitation package extended to Polavaram project oustees is also steeped in corruption. There is no accountability in spending public money.”
The MLC said that corruption had prompted the Centre to call upon the State government to form a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to release funds under the special package. “When the Centre knew about the irregularities in the TDP government, why would the funds be released?” he said. Asked why the BJP was silent on corruption in the past four years, Veerraju replied, “We have raised these issues with the vigilance department. You should also understand that we had our our limitations then.”
Dubbing TDP a Telugu Drama Party, Veerraju said corruption resorted to by the yellow brigade had become uncontrollable. “To unearth corruption in the TDP, we need bulldozers, not crowbars,” he remarked. Meanwhile, BJP national spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao elaborated in Delhi the BJP president Amit Shah’s letter to Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. He said the reasons cited and allegations made against the NDA government by Chandrababu Naidu in his letter to Amit Shah before quitting the NDA were a big lie.
Brushing aside criticism of Amit Shah’s letter, Rao said TDP was targeting the Central government only to cover up its own failures. He said the State government could not utilise the funds released to the State because of its inefficiency, lack of transparency and accountability.