A Srinivasa Rao
At a time when all the political parties in the country came together in support of Anna Hazare's crusade against corruption in high places, there is one political party in Andhra Pradesh which is not in a position to join the struggle: the YSR Congress.
The fledgling political party floated by Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy has not come out with a single statement on corruption.
For, Jagan himself is caught neck-deep in allegations of graft. Following a High Court order, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has begun a full-fledged probe into Jagan's ill-gotten assets and the alleged illegal flow of investments into his business empire in the last five years. In the last 10 days, the CBI conducted intense searches on the offices and residences of Jagan and those companies which allegedly brought huge money into his media house Sakshi at a high premium, in quid pro quo to various benefits doled out by his father late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy during his regime between 2004 and 2009.
The CBI filed the FIR in the special court last week with Jagan as the accused no. 1 and charging his father with being a co-conspirator.
Apart from various sections under the IPC including cheating, criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust and falsification of accounts etc, the CBI also filed cases against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The developments have come as an embarrassment to Jagan at a time when there was massive public outrage against corruption across the country, including various parts of Andhra Pradesh. He tried to wriggle out of the mess by moving the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the CBI inquiry, but there, too, he drew blank. What is worse, the Supreme Court too felt that there was a merit in the corruption case against him. And it has given his political rivals an opportunity to run him down for challenging the CBI inquiry fearing that it might expose his corruption.
At this stage, Jagan cannot make any comment on Anna Hazare's crusade against corruption.
It would only invite further criticism against him, as it would be ridiculous for a person facing corruption charges to comment against corruption. So, he had no other option but to remain silent. However, he decided to take the battle to the people by forcing 29 MLAs owing allegiance to him to submit their resignations.
Interestingly, these MLAs, too, are, too, not talking about the corruption charges against Jagan, but said they resigned only in protest against the CBI mentioning YSR's name in the FIR. The corruption charges against Jagan have thrown up a pertinent question: which politician is not corrupt? As a matter of fact, almost all the political leaders who are now shouting from the roof tops against corruption, have all faced corruption charges at one point of time or the other.
And they are now forced to support Anna Hazare only to protect their political identity.
Take for instance Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu. He is projecting himself as "Andhra Hazare" these days and accusing the Congress of corrupt practices to gain political mileage. Naidu himself had faced several charges of corruption during his nine-year rule between 1995 and 2004, including promotion of his own company Heritage Foods at the cost of a government dairy in Chittoor district, granting of excise contractors on extraneous considerations and allotment of 1000 acres of land for IMG-Bharata in the name of development of international sports complex etc.
And now, he is talking about exposing corruption. What do we call it, if not hypocrisy?
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/politicos-reveal-their-hypocrisy/1/149395.html
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YSR Congress is using CBI probe on Kadapa MP Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy to gain political mileage. |
At a time when all the political parties in the country came together in support of Anna Hazare's crusade against corruption in high places, there is one political party in Andhra Pradesh which is not in a position to join the struggle: the YSR Congress.
The fledgling political party floated by Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy has not come out with a single statement on corruption.
For, Jagan himself is caught neck-deep in allegations of graft. Following a High Court order, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has begun a full-fledged probe into Jagan's ill-gotten assets and the alleged illegal flow of investments into his business empire in the last five years. In the last 10 days, the CBI conducted intense searches on the offices and residences of Jagan and those companies which allegedly brought huge money into his media house Sakshi at a high premium, in quid pro quo to various benefits doled out by his father late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy during his regime between 2004 and 2009.
The CBI filed the FIR in the special court last week with Jagan as the accused no. 1 and charging his father with being a co-conspirator.
Apart from various sections under the IPC including cheating, criminal conspiracy and criminal breach of trust and falsification of accounts etc, the CBI also filed cases against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The developments have come as an embarrassment to Jagan at a time when there was massive public outrage against corruption across the country, including various parts of Andhra Pradesh. He tried to wriggle out of the mess by moving the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the CBI inquiry, but there, too, he drew blank. What is worse, the Supreme Court too felt that there was a merit in the corruption case against him. And it has given his political rivals an opportunity to run him down for challenging the CBI inquiry fearing that it might expose his corruption.
At this stage, Jagan cannot make any comment on Anna Hazare's crusade against corruption.
It would only invite further criticism against him, as it would be ridiculous for a person facing corruption charges to comment against corruption. So, he had no other option but to remain silent. However, he decided to take the battle to the people by forcing 29 MLAs owing allegiance to him to submit their resignations.
Interestingly, these MLAs, too, are, too, not talking about the corruption charges against Jagan, but said they resigned only in protest against the CBI mentioning YSR's name in the FIR. The corruption charges against Jagan have thrown up a pertinent question: which politician is not corrupt? As a matter of fact, almost all the political leaders who are now shouting from the roof tops against corruption, have all faced corruption charges at one point of time or the other.
And they are now forced to support Anna Hazare only to protect their political identity.
Take for instance Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu. He is projecting himself as "Andhra Hazare" these days and accusing the Congress of corrupt practices to gain political mileage. Naidu himself had faced several charges of corruption during his nine-year rule between 1995 and 2004, including promotion of his own company Heritage Foods at the cost of a government dairy in Chittoor district, granting of excise contractors on extraneous considerations and allotment of 1000 acres of land for IMG-Bharata in the name of development of international sports complex etc.
And now, he is talking about exposing corruption. What do we call it, if not hypocrisy?
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/politicos-reveal-their-hypocrisy/1/149395.html
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