Taking a cue from his cabinet colleagues —P Sabita Indra Reddy, J Geetha Reddy, Kanna Lakshminarayana and Ponnala Lakshmaiah _ roads & buildings minister Dharmana Prasada Rao wants a probe by the state government into the decisions taken by the then YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s cabinet to ascertain whether the ministers had violated any business rules while issuing the 26 controversial GOs or not.
Prasada Rao, who has been leading a life of recluse ever since the CBI charge-sheeted him in Jagan’s assets case, talked with mediapersons at his residence here on Sunday. He raised several issues relating to the CBI case against him and wanted the state government to examine them thoroughly. The following are some of his observations:
CBI’s limits
Can the CBI question the decisions taken by a cabinet or not is a debatable subject. The Supreme Court has given several verdicts over this issue.
Cabinet decisions
As per the business rules of the state government, neither the revenue minister nor the chief minister has got the authority to allot a single acre of land to any person or institution, even in the interest of the state, without the nod of the cabinet. Whatever decisions I had taken as revenue minister during the regime of YS Rajasekhara Reddy were taken with the approval of the then cabinet. Thus I had neither violated any business rule nor allotted a single acre of land to anybody illegally.
Minister a public servant
The CBI has levelled charges against me and asked for government’s nod to prosecute me under Sec 197 of CrPC and Sec 19 of PC Act. As every minister is also a public servant, the CBI sought the sanction of the government to prosecute me.
I have given my reply in detail to the government to each charge. But it is the responsibility of the government to examine whether the CBI has looked into all aspects of the business rules of the government or not in levelling charges against me.
I will come clean
I did not commit any mistake in issuing GOs. I am fully confident that I can prove my innocence in the court and come out clean.
Charges unfounded
I feel that the charges levelled against me by the CBI are unfounded. For instance, the CBI, in its fourth chargesheet, accused me of alienating a land to a particular company and further charged me with not reclaiming the land from that company. As the land was not alienated, how can I reclaim it?
I am only accused
I am only an accused not convict. All the charges levelled against me are to be proved in a court of law. Even before the court prosecutes us, opposition parties are branding us as criminals and culprits. Is it justified?