PRP Urges a Probe by a Sitting SC Judge

HYDERABAD: The Praja Rajyam Party (PRP) urged Governor N D Tiwari to recommend the President of India to order an inquiry by a sitting judge of the Supreme Court into Satyam and Heritage scandals. Party president Chiranjeevi today called on the Governor and submitted a memorandum to this effect. Senior leaders of the PRP P Upendra, Kotagiri Vidyadhara Rao, Ch Harirama Jogaih, C Ramachandraiah and KSR Murthy were also present. Chiranjeevi also urged the Governor to allow prosecution of Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy as prima-facie evidence was there. Speaking to the media later, Chiranjeevi said the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) did not have the moral right to speak on corruption as its president had sown the seeds for it. The Satyam scandal began in the TDP regime and the Congress Government had fostered it, he alleged. The Government deliberately shielded former Satyam chairman Ramalinga Raju from the inquiry by the SEBI and other Central agencies, he alleged. The Government had awarded a gigantic project like the construction of Metro Rail to Maytas corporation, even though it did not have the capacity to carry out such a project, Chiranjeevi said. Meanwhile, in the memorandum submitted to the Governor, Chiranjeevi stated that an unholy nexus had developed between the politicians and the corporate firms and the Satyam scandal was an example. Even though it was a fact that the CID was not capable of handling cases like this, the Chief Minister had entrusted the case to it and the action was aimed at pre-empting the intervention of Central organisations like the SEBI, the SFIO and the Income Tax department, he alleged. Chiranjeevi alleged that the Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues were coercing the companies which had benefitted to invest part of their gains in the companies floated by his kith and kin. As far as the selling of shares in the Raghuram cements and the Jagati publication were concerned, gross violation of the laws of the FEMA, the FDI and the Income Tax departments had taken place, Chiranjeevi alleged.