With CBI naming her in the chargesheet, home minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy offered to quit the cabinet on moral grounds.
A disheartened Sabitha called on chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy at his camp office here on Monday night and is understood to have told him she was innocent. Kiran and PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana, who was with him at that time, are said to have advised her against taking any hasty step as they have yet to look into the charges levelled by the CBI against her. The chief minister is said to have offered all help to her in the hour of crisis.
Meanwhile, CBI chargesheeting the home minister has shocked Congress leaders. With Mopidevi Venkata Ramana already in jail and another minister Dharmana Prasada Rao listed as accused in the same case, adding another minister in the charge-sheet is the last thing the Congress expected in an election year.
“It is definitely a setback. That this should happen at a time when efforts are on to project the party as one that did not encourage corruption is very unsettling,” one minister said.
But Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, in all likelihood, may persist with her but there is a catch here. Sabita happens to be the Home Minister and it remains to be seen if he would like to have a Home Minister whose name figures in a charge-sheet. “This is a very dicey situation,” the minister admitted, observing that every time the Chief Minister tries to do something to bolster the party’s image, something or the other comes in the way. He, however, felt that as corruption had never been an issue in elections, the Congress could get away with it. “Could there be anyone more corrupt than YS Jagan Mohan Reddy? But he is winning elections,” he pointed out.
Most of the Congress leaders feel that it would be in the interest of the party if both Dharmana and Sabita are dropped from the Cabinet. As Dharmana is still continuing as a minister, Sabita may not be axed but it would send a wrong signal to the people, one MP opined.
“In the case of Dharmana, Kiran Kumar Reddy did not accept the resignation since he is very close to him after the party high command left the decision to him. Now, if Kiran is allowed to have his say, he might continue Sabita,” a Telangana MP said.
Already, according to him, the party’s image has taken a beating with Mopidevi Venkata Ramana, a BC, being arrested and Dharmana, a Velama, remaining a free man and a minister to boot. “If Sabita too is allowed to continue in the Cabinet, the damage to the party’s image would be even more,” he said.
Another MP, a strong critic of YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, felt it would be better if Sabita steps down on her own.
“If she hangs on, people might suspect the credentials of the party,” he said, adding that this would help Jagan politically at the expense of the Congress. “I don’t want the Congress to play into the hands of Jagan,” he said.
Who’s next?
With charges framed against Home Minister P Sabita Indra Reddy in the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy illegal assets case, three other ministers are reportedly spending sleepless nights fearing that it’s a matter of time before they too find their names in the charge-sheet.
With the CBI almost completing its investigation into the role of two other cement companies, Penna Cements and India Cements, the then irrigation minister P Laxmaih is likely to come under the scanner. The CBI is of the view that the companies were given additional water enabling them to increase production. The two companies have also invested in Jagan Mohan Reddy firms. Two other ministers, Dr J Geetha Reddy and Kanna Lakshminarayana are also under the scanner, sources said. Meanwhile, the number of bureaucrats to be named as accused in the Jagan Mohan Reddy assets case has also increased with suspended IAS officer Y Srilakshmi finding a place in the fresh chargesheet.
Sabita Indra Reddy could get out of the CBI net in the OMC alleged illegal iron ore mining case but her luck ran out this time in the Jagan illegal assets case. Sabita’s role in granting iron ore mining leases to OMC came under the scanner of the CBI but it was Srilakshmi who was finally identified as the one who violated norms in granting the leases.
Remand Extended
The judicial remand of Jagan Mohan Reddy, industrialist Nimmagadda Prasad, former minister M Venkataramana Rao and others in the MP’s assets case and also the arrested accused in Emaar case was extended till April 15. M Venkataramana Rao filed a discharge petition in court.