VIJAYAWADA: Alla Ramakrishna Reddy, the YSRC legislator from Mangalagiri, alleged that retired IAS officer Sambasiva Rao was the mastermind behind the Amaravati land scam and IAS officers Kantilal Dande, Cheurkuri Sridhar and Kona Sasidhar had cooperated with the TD leaders to grab land belonging to the Dalits illegally. He alleged that TD president and then Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and his associates had forcefully snatched land from the Dalits in the Amaravati capital region.
The YSRC MLA alleged that Naidu was promoting real estate business during his government. He said that he had evidence about the snatching of land belonging to Dalits by creating fear in the community in Amaravati, and a realtor, Brahmananda Reddy, was used to snatch those land parcels illegally
He stated that he has submitted the “video evidence” on the Amaravati capital region land scam to CID officials and demanded a comprehensive inquiry to bring out facts regarding alienation of these assigned lands.
Releasing the video to the media at the party central office here on Sunday, Ramakrishna Reddy alleged Naidu and his coterie, including former ministers P. Narayana and Pathipati Pulla Rao threatened Dalits into giving up their landholdings at throwaway prices. The then state government announced Amaravati as capital of AP only after most of its lands had been acquired by TD bigwigs and real estate businessmen, with some senior IAS officials jumping onto this bandwagon.
The MLA said the video proved how Brahmananda Reddy of Bhumi Putra real estate had cheated Dalit farmers telling them that they will not get any relief package once government acquires their lands.
Ramakrishna Reddy pointed out that lands of Dalits had been bought though it is illegal to purchase lands assigned to them. He demanded that CID officials conduct an in-depth investigation into the scam and arrest the responsible. He urged Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy to return the assigned lands to respective Dalits of Amaravati region.
