KCR's Aide Involved With Land Mafia: Uttam

TPCC President and Nalgonda MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy today made shocking charges against a close aide of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, and alleged that people in Huzurnagar suspected the aide, TRS MP Joginapally Santosh Kumar, of colluding with the land mafia in the area.

Speaking at a press conference in Gandhi Bhavan, Reddy said, "People are wondering why the government has been silent in the face of the huge uproar against the illegal grabbing of government and tribal lands in the state. The silence of the district administration is also conspicuous."

"It is shameful that TRS councillors, aside from other party leaders, are themselves alleging that government and tribal lands worth hundreds of crores are being forcibly being grabbed by unscrupulous elements in Huzurnagar," he added.

The Congress leader claimed that as four-time MLA of the Huzurnagar constituency it was he who had brought development to the area.

"Under me, there were no instances of encroachment or land grabbing. However, now such incidents are commonplace. Some brokers, associated with a close aide of the CM, tricked the tribals of the area into selling their lands by buying their land documents," he alleged.

"After the TRS won the Huzurnagar Assembly by-elections in 2019, local TRS leaders, in connivance with the police and other officials, encroached upon thousands of acres of land worth several hundred crores. I had submitted repeated representations to the authorities against such encroachments. Subsequently, one MRO was also suspended from the post. However, the local administration had expressed its helplessness in controlling the land mafia citing pressure from the top as the reason - the locals even suspect that the land mafia enjoys the backing of TRS MP Santosh Kumar. It is believed that the TRS leadership is also pressuring the local authorities to allow encroachment of tribal lands. Goons from other states have been hired to carry out attacks on those tribals who do not give up their lands easily. The TRS government must take immediate action against corrupt leaders and land grabbers, else the Congress will launch massive agitations against it," Reddy said.

He then challenged state BJP head Bandi Sanjay Kumar to get the BJP-led Centre to order a probe into the matter, and into KCR's "corruption".

The MP also strongly condemned Kumar for his remarks against him, and said, "Bandi Sanjay lacks basic decency as he has risen in the ranks too quickly - he has become the state President of a party after starting out as a corporator. I have however served my country as an airforce pilot. Therefore, Bandi Sanjay should refrain from making derogatory remarks about me. His inaction in the land grabbing matter shows that both the BJP and the TRS are but two sides of the same coin. The two parties have a secret pact the sole intention of which is to damage the prospects of the Congress in Telangana," the TPCC head said.