VIJAYAWADA: BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sujana Chowdary, who claimed that he has no land in the villages falling under Amaravati capital region, is in possession of a large extent of land abutting the capital region, a government source said. The lands are in a safe distance from the land pooling zone, the source said. The revelation has proved Sujana’s claims wrong and justified the State government’s stand that there was insider trading in Amaravati capital land pooling.
“The family members of Sujana bought 623.12 acres of land in the capital region outside the land pooling zone,’’ the sources said. The details of the land deals came out when Municipal Administration Minister Botcha Satyanarayana, during his visit to the capital region recently to assess floods, said that a former Union minister has a large area of land in the capital region. Sujana, who visited the capital area on Wednesday, refuted the allegations of insider trading and said he has no land in the capital region. Botcha immediately hit back and revealed details of Sujana’s land deals just before the announcement of the capital city.
Land records reveal that in Gudimetla village of Chandarlapadu Mandal in Krishna district, a total of 110.6 acres of land was purchased by Sujana at `5 lakh per acre before the announcement of Amaravati as the capital city. “The land was bought by one Jatin Kumar, who heads one of the 120 shell companies of Sujana,’’ the sources revealed.
According to officials, lands with survey numbers 432-1, 403-5, 433, 434, 402-1A, 429, 428, 412, 410-2, 427-2, 413, 415, 416, 431, 437, 399-7, 404-11 and 407-4 in Gudimetla are in the name Shiva Satya Pigments Private Limited, one of the 120 companies established by Sujana. The cost of the same land has now increased to `50 lakh per acre. With this, the former Union minister made `50 crore profit in the name of Amaravati.
Moreover, Sujana’s brother’s son Yalamanchili Jatin Kumar has also made huge profits by establishing Shiva Jyothi Flycon Blocks Private Limited in 11.56 acres of land with survey numbers 404-1, 404-5 and 404-6. He had purchased 11.56 acres of land just before the announcement of Amaravati as capital city in 2014.
Sujana, who adopted Ponnavaram village in Veerullapadu mandal, took advantage of the same and purchased 13.39 acres of land in the name of his father Y Janardhana Rao. Another 3.5 acres with survey number 41, 4.03 acres with survey number 78, and 6.14 acres with survey number 38-2 were purchased by Sujana in the name of his brothers Y Shiva Ramakrishna, Y Shivalinga Prasad, and wife Y Susheela Kumar respectively, officials said.
Moreover, the former Union minister also purchased lands in the name of SJK Biotech Pharma Private Limited at Chandapuram village in Nandigama mandal, official sources said. Sujana’s lands are at Gudimetla, Kanchikacherla mandal’s Moguluru and Bathinapadu villages, Tadikonda mandal’s Ravela village, Yadlapadu mandal’s Yadlapadu village, Mangalagiri mandal’s Navuluru village, Nandigama manadal’s Adiviravulapadu village, Penuganchiprolu mandal’s Konakanchi village, Veerullapadu mandal’s Gokarajupalli village.
There were allegations that the then chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu had given prior information to his close aides about the proposed capital Amaravati. Many TDP leaders are said to have purchased land after that at low cost from the farmers of Amaravati. It may be recalled that Sujana, who was with the TDP, joined the BJP after the 2019 elections.