Senior Congress MLA D L Ravindra Reddy on Monday opined that the deal between the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation and Emaar Properties is not legally valid since it was not approved by the Board of Directors before it was signed, and since it was struck without the knowledge of Chief Minister K Rosaiah.
Talking to media persons at Assembly premises, Ravindra said that the deal was struck by two senior officials behind closed doors, and that 'powerful persons with very influential connections' were behind the scam.
The Congress MLA said that he suspected the involvement of 2 senior officers behind the deal, but did not elaborate whether the officials were from the APIIC or from Emaar Properties. He said that he suspected the involvement of corporates Raheja, Indu and Brahmini in dubious land deals as well.
Ravindra stated that Rosaiah, at that time, was the chairman of a sub-committee probing allegations of irregularities in the deal. He said that Rosaiah had not recommended reducing the share of Emaar Properties in the deal.
The MLA said that there was no way that the Chief Minister could be accused of negligence.
Ravindra emphasized that he saw no danger of any mudslinging against Rosaiah because of the APIIC-Emaar issue.
The Congress leader also denied that he had jumped to the Chief Minister's defense with an eye on the Cabinet. He said, "I have not made these statements expecting a cabinet berth in the Rosaiah Cabinet. I want to ensure that the clean image of the Congress party in the country is not sullied. The party should come clean on these baseless allegations, to instill confidence in people," he said.
Ravindra further said that a CBI probe would be able to unearth the murky details behind the allegations.
Courtesy: INN
filed in:Congress, Hyderabad Real Estate, Corruption, D L Ravindra Reddy, Emaar Properties