VSP Land Scam: YSRCP & TDP Plan Stir On Same Day

YSR Congress Party chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy will organize a "Maha Dharna" near the Visakhapatnam collectorate on June 22, on the Visakhapatnam land scam.

Announcing this, YSRCP Visakhapatnam district president Gudivada Amarnath Reddy said that the party would fight the land scams of the TDP with all its might. He alleged that Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and his partymen were involved in several land scams, with Naidu's own minister Ayyanna Patrudu openly stating that minister Ganta Srinivasa Rao (Patrudu's arch rival in Visakhapatnam) and MLAs were involved in the Vishakapatnam land scam.

He also promised that the YSRCP would support the families affected by the scam.

For those who came in late, Ayyanna Patrudu had from an open dais said that cabinet ministers, legislators, MPs and other senior leaders had colluded with real estate groups and illegally occupied lands. And the Visakhapatnam district Collector had at a press conference in the beginning of June disclosed that land records were tampered with, and that FMBs for 1,00,000 acres were not available and 233 village records had gone missing. Former MP and former minister in united Andhra Pradesh Konathala Ramakrishna alleged that the perpetrators of the land scandal had used the October 2014 Hudhud cyclone as a cover, and in collusion with the official machinery made people believe that land records had gone missing in that disaster.

Meanwhile, TDP Visakhapatnam president and MLA V Ganesh Kumar announced that the TDP would organize a deeksha on June 22 against the YSRCP's program. He said that about 5,000 TDP workers would participate in the program. This is intended to take some of the attention away from and sting out of the YSRCP's dharna.

Andhra Pradesh DGP Sambasiva Rao meanwhile said that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) had been formed to probe the scam. DIG Vineeth Brijlal had been appointed as the SIT's chief, and Vizag joint collector Srujana, RDOs and DSPs would be its members, he said.