ADILABAD: Adilabad BJP MP Soyam Bapu Rao on Monday landed in the soup after a video became viral in which a leader who looked like him was seen making a public admission that he had used part of his MP Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) funds for the construction of his house and for his son’s wedding.
In the video, the leader was seen admitting “gallantly” that he had used MPLADS funds for his personal use. While addressing MPTCs, ZPTCs, and municipal councillors in his Lok Sabha constituency at his residence recently, the leader was seen making the admission and also trying to explain how much better he was compared to others who used entire MPLADs funds for personal use.
He said as an MP he had a lot of clout in the Central government and that’s why he could get a sanction for Rs 5 crore, at the rate of Rs 2.5 crore per year for the last two years and how he intended to distribute the second tranche of the money among them.
He said he had allotted a portion of the first instalment of funds of Rs 2.5 for distribution among the MPTCs and Municipal Ward Councillors, and since he did not have a house, he used part of it for it and for hid son’s wedding. “I only used a part of the funds. Many MPs in the past used the full amount for personal use but I am not like them,” he said.
He also said that except him, no MP could get Rs 5 crore as MPLADs funds in India, not even BJP state president Bandi Sanjay who is MP Karimnagar, or Nizamabad MP Dharmapuri Arvind.
Later, Soyam Bapu Rao denied making a confession of using the MPLADS funds for personal use while speaking at a programme at Ruyyadi in Talamadugu mandal.
He said that the news was fake and wanted to know how he could use the MPLADS funds for personal use, even if he wanted to, as there is an official procedure for spending the funds. He also accused Adilabad BJP district president Payal Shankar and former MP Ramesh Rathod of circulating the fake video.
The officials, however, said that apart from their accounts for Rs 9.63 crore, they were unaware of Rs 5 crore. They said there was no way an MP could use the MPLADS funds for the construction of his own house or for his son’s wedding as the money is meant for use for public purposes.