Bring more material, court tells A.P. Cong. leader

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, JAN. 8. The Delhi High Court today directed the Leader of the Opposition and the Congress Legislature Party in the Andhra Pradesh Assembly, Mr. Y.S. Rajashekhar Reddy, to gather more material in support of his petition seeking an enquiry into the alleged amassing of disproportionate assets by the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr. Chandra Babu Naidu, and his family members.

Seeking an enquiry by the Central Bureau of Investigation, Mr. Reddy accused the Chief Minister of accumulating huge assets in his name as well as in the names of his wife and son and making investments in several companies between 1988-95.

Mr. Reddy said Mr. Naidu owned 13.05 acres of land in Balaiahpalli, Nindali and Nellore, including his present residence at Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad, and had 7.61 lakh shares in the Heritage Foods and 4.15 lakh shares in some unlisted companies.

He further alleged that the Chief Minister's wife had 10.2 acres of land in Nindali, 0.19 acres in Yellareddygudem, 19 acres in Serilingampally and Kothugudu and 2.7 acres at Chennakupur. She also owned 11.23 lakh equity shares in the Heritage Foods and had invested about Rs. 28 lakhs in various other companies. She also had over Rs. 7.36 lakhs in fixed deposits, he said.

A Division Bench comprising the Chief Justice, Mr. Justice Arajit Pasayat, and Mr. Justice D.K. Jain, asked Mr. Ramakrishna Reddy, counsel for the petitioner, to bring forth more material before them, including a copy of the petition filed by the petitioner against Mr. Naidu and later dismissed by the Andhra Pradesh High Court, by January 17.

In a letter to the Central Vigilance Commission and the CBI last February, Mr. Reddy had requested the two agencies to probe the allegation. But they did not take any action on his complaint, he said.

The petition alleged that Mr. Naidu had in 1988 told the Andhra Pradesh High Court that he had two acres of land in his village Navarapalle which brought an annual income of Rs. 36,000, but later in 1994 before the Company Law authorities and before the Andhra Pradesh Assembly Speaker in 1999, he submitted a long list of properties in his name and in the names of his wife and son.

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