VIJAYAWADA: Telugu Desam general secretary and MLC-elect Nara Lokesh on Thursday lashed out at Sakshi, a Telugu newspaper owned by Opposition leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy for peddling half-truths on his assets which he declared to the Election Commission while filing nomination papers for election to the Legislative Council from MLAs quota.
In a tweet and later at a news conference here, the chief minister's son argued that the newspaper ran stories which were blatantly distorted and were based on "half-truths and misleading omissions."
Reacting to the report in Sakshi that value of all his assets had gone up by 22 times in just five months, Lokesh explained that when he declared his and his family members' assets at Guntur, they represented the value at the time of their acquisition and not the market value at present.
When he filed nomination papers, the Election Commission wanted him to file the figures of market value of his assets. The market value always fluctuates, one day it is up and the other day it is down. That was the reason why his family had been declaring value of assets at the time of acquisition
"My shares worth Rs 1.64 crore in Heritage represent a dynamic wealth. The holding has been constant for over a decade (not a single share sold or purchased) and hence we presented the original investment made in obtaining the shares. In contrast, the Election Commission has mandated the market price to be given," he said.
Lokesh said that there was another manufactured lie about Heritage Foods selling its retail business to Future Retail Ltd and retained only 3.65% stake worth Rs 295 crore in it, while the value of my shares have gone up from Rs 2.52 crore to Rs 273.84 crore. "I would like to clarify that Heritage Foods comprised dairy, retail and other miscellaneous operations. With the sale of the not-so-profitable retail division, the share prices of the diary saw a sharp rise in share prices.
He described Sakshi, as the most morally and ethically bankrupt newspaper in the country, managed as a vehicle for political gains. He pointed out that Jagan had never declared his assets. Another point to note was that he is an A-1 accused in 12 cases of corruption and quid pro quo that are being investigated by the CBI.
He said that the face value of Heritage share - Rs 10 took 25 years to reach a value of R .2,000. But the value of shares of Sakshi, Indira Television and Bharati cements had risen to Rs 1,400 in just a matter of 12 months and Jagan should explain how this had happened. "Jagan has no moral right to point a finger at me since he is is facing charges of cheating in 23 cases, A1 accused in 12 cases, spent 16 months in jail and was responsible for sending six IAS officers behind bars," he said.