VIJAYAWADA: Asserting that he has nothing to do with the alleged irregularities in the Amaravati Inner Ring Road (IRR), TDP national general secretary on Tuesday remarked that he was mentioned as an accused in the case soon after he applied for permissions to resume his Yuva Galam padayatra.
Alleging a witch-hunt, Lokesh asked, “How am I related to Amaravati IRR, FibreGrid and AP State Skill Development Corporation (APSSDC) scam? How can there be a case when the IRR does not even exist? Also, if the cases filed against me carried any weight, wouldn’t the CID come to Delhi and arrest me?”
The 40-year-old was speaking to reporters in New Delhi after meeting President Droupadi Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. A delegation of TDP MPs, including Kanakamedala Ravindra Kumar, Kesineni Srinivas (Nani), Galla Jayadev and K Ram Mohan Naidu, submitted a representation to the President seeking her intervention into the ‘illegal’ arrest of TDP supremo N Chandrababu Naidu in the APSSDC case.
Accusing the ruling YSRC of foisting false cases against the TDP leaders, Lokesh alleged, “The government does not have any evidence to support their accusations. The CID is asking us for proof after registering the cases.”
Terming the arrest of Naidu a gift by Jagan, Lokesh said he will make sure the Chief Minister gets a return gift within six months. Further, he charged the State government with resorting to ‘illegal’ arrests to obstruct the TDP’s Bhavishyathuku Guarantee Yatra, Yuva Galam padaytra and Jana Sena chief Pawan Kalyan’s Vaarahi Yatra.
Responding to the remarks of the ruling party leaders stating that he was ‘hiding’ in New Delhi, Lokesh maintained that he was consulting with legal experts on the course of action in Naidu’s arrest and garnering support from leaders of various parties.
On his meeting with Murmu, the TDP leader said the party appealed to the President to stand by the people of Andhra Pradesh to ensure that their Constitutional rights are protected. “Your action in this matter will undoubtedly reinforce the faith of the citizens in the democratic institutions of the nation,” the TDP leaders said in the representation submitted to President Murmu. Two letters were submitted to the President, one signed by Lokesh and the other by TDP MPs.
“I humbly request you to intervene in the matter and ask for your support in denouncing the baseless allegations against Naidu. Your support can help bring attention to the injustice that is being perpetrated against an innocent man and contribute to the greater cause of safeguarding the integrity of our political system,” he said.
Alleging that the skill case was a fabricated one, the TDP leaders said there was absolutely no evidence to prove Naidu’s involvement in the case or on the money trail connecting him or his family.Further, they sought to know why names of Premchandra Reddy, the then managing director of APSSDC, and Ajeya Kallam, the then finance secretary and current chief advisor to the Chief Minister, who were the authorised signatories for releasing the funds for the project, was missing from the FIR.
They added that the evasion of tax by companies connected to DesignTech should not implicate the Andhra Pradesh government as the tax matters are the responsibility of the firms and not the government. Asked about Telangana minister KT Rama Rao’s remarks on the protests held in Hyderabad in support of Naidu, Lokesh pointed out that the TDP chief’s supporters were conducting peaceful protests not just in the Telugu States, but also across India and abroad.