The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) has said that the Income Tax Department notice to former Chief Minister and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president N. Chandrababu Naidu is indicative of the large-scale corruption and siphoning of public money during the TDP rule in the State.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) should also investigate the “hawala transactions” during the TDP tenure, said Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy, Adviser (Public Affairs), while addressing the media at the party office at Tadepalli, near Vijayawada, on Saturday.
‘Amaravati a big scam’
The idea of Amaravati as a capital was itself a big scam designed by Mr. Naidu, who had never wanted it to be constructed in reality, Mr. Ramakrishna Reddy said.
Mr. Naidu had inflated the cost of construction beyond imagination. The TDP government had paid ₹10,000 per square feet for construction of temporary buildings such as the Secretariat and Legislative Assembly, while the market rate was far less than that, he alleged. The TDP government had spent more than ₹600 crore on these temporary buildings, he added.
People had been forced to pay ₹2,200 per sft, while the market rate was about ₹1,000 per sft for the TIDCO houses, he said.
“The excess amount paid to the contractors came back to Mr. Naidu as kickbacks via shell companies,” Mr. Ramakrishna Reddy alleged.
Had there been no truth in it, the TDP leaders would have reacted violently on the I-T notice, he said.
Mr. Naidu had resorted to delaying tactics by raising technical issues such as jurisdiction and material evidence since 2022, he said.
The I-T Department finally concluded that Mr. Naidu had not disclosed the source of income regarding ₹118.98 crore, Mr. Ramakrishna Reddy said. Mr. Naidu should break his silence and clear the air on the issue, he said.
