KARIMNAGAR: With the assembly elections approaching, politics in the temple town of Vemulawada has started revolving around a Rs 100 crore land scam. Leaders of three parties --the BRS, BJP and the Congress -- in Rajanna Sircilla district are focusing exclusively on this issue for the past few days, raising the political temperature in the region to a new height.
Sitting BRS party MLA Chennamaneni Ramesh alleged in a recent meeting in the constituency that some leaders of his own party were conspiring to see that he does not get the party ticket in the upcoming assembly polls. “They hope they can grab the Rs 100 crore land” in the temple city.
DCC president Adi Srinivas responded, “When MLA Ramesh is aware of the Rs 100 crore land scam, why is he not disclosing the facts to the people? As an MLA, is it not his responsibility to protect the government lands in his constituency?”
“The followers of the MLA encroached the lay-out lands present in Vemulawada Municipality in the name of a voluntary organisation (owned by the MLA) and are blaming the Congress party for this. They are alleging that Congress leaders are involved in the scam,” he said.
“The MLA forgot that it was the Congress party that exposed the land scam and handed over the registration document to the municipal commissioner vis-à-vis the 140 guntas of government land encroached by BRS leaders,” he added.
“The evidence related to only 30 per cent of the land that was encroached. The 70 per cent of the land scam, totally worth Rs 100 crore, must be revealed by MLA Ramesh Babu now. He has complete details of how the land deal occurred,” the Congress leader demanded.
BJP state executive member Yerram Mahesh alleged that being an MLA, it was the responsibility of Ramesh Babu to prevent land grabbing in his constituency and protect the valuable government lands. Why is he not taking any action and trying to blame the opposition leaders,” he asked.
For the past few days, when news about encroachment of the huge land scam took rounds of the political circles in Vemulawada constituency, why is IT minister Rama Rao, representing the district, not taking action against the errant? How much share did he (KTR) receive in this deal,” he asked.
Meanwhile, activists of the temple town demanded that the government and district collector Anurag Jayanti must hold an inquiry into the allegations made by MLA Ramesh and protect the valuable government land from land sharks.
