VIJAYAWADA : YSRC general secretary and Government Advisor (Public Affairs) Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy demanded that TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu respond to the Income Tax notices reportedly served on him with regard to Rs 118 crore, which he allegedly received as kickbacks from some infrastructure firms.
Speaking to mediapersons on Saturday, he expressed dismay at the silence of Naidu and his son Nara Lokesh on the I-T notices even 48 hours after the reports emerged. He dared them to respond and come clean on the issue.
“In fact, Naidu’s involvement in corruption was exposed during raids conducted on the house of his former PA Srinivas and the residence and offices of Manoj Vasudev Pardasany, a representative of Shapoorji Pallonji,” Sajjala pointed out.
The I-T officials, in the notices served on Naidu, stated that they got evidence of Rs 118.98 crore was routed to Naidu through shell companies from infrastructure firms L&T and Shapoorji Pallonji and sought an explanation as to why the amount was not disclosed in the tax returns filed by him. “As all these are facts, Chandrababu Naidu and co is silent on the issue. If not, they would have caused an uproar on the allegations by now,” Sajjala observed, while showing the I-T notices and other evidence.
He further explained that Naidu had replied four times to the I-T notices and all of them were objections raised to the notices served on him on technical grounds. He questioned the jurisdiction of the I-T department once and at another time, he said notices were served without enough material evidence.
“All he did was to try to hide behind technicalities and evade response to the I-T department. He did not furnish accounts for the unaccounted Rs 118.98 crore. This has been Naidu’s way of functioning in his more than four decades of political career,” the YSRC leader remarked. Sajjala said the YSRC had questioned the logic behind awarding the contract of constructing temporary Secretariat building and the State Assembly to L&T and Shapoorji Pallonji for an abnormally high price.
“It is clearly evident that for Naidu, Amaravati was never a capital, but a sham meant to amass wealth for generations. He did this in case of Polavaram project and even Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Naidu was using Polavaram as an ATM,” Sajjala observed.
On the One Nation, One Election concept, the YSRC general secretary felt that given the composition of political spectrum of the country, it is not needed at this time.