Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Leader of the Opposition Y.S.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and Leader of the Opposition Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy sought to take their bitter political war to the Prime Minister on Thursday by writing separate letters to Narendra Modi on the black money issue.
Mr Reddy’s letter comes a day after Mr Naidu indirectly sought to imply that the YSRC leader declared an income of Rs 10,000 crore under the Income Declaration Scheme.
While Mr Naidu wanted the Centre to “demonitise” currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination to “curb” proliferation of parallel economy, Mr Reddy wanted publication of “entire list of IDS-2016” and also initiate a thorough inquiry into the corruption charges against the chief minister.
“Out of the Rs 65,000 crore disclosed across the country, Rs 13,000 crore was declared in Hyderabad and, out of it, Rs 10,000 crore by a single individual.
“Who is that, we can’t know as per law. Is it possible for a businessman to declare such huge money,” he wondered Wednesday, indirectly seeking to imply it was the YSRC president.
Separately, a couple of ministers and Telugu Desam legislators directly named Mr Reddy as the one who made the Rs 10,000 crore disclosure, a charge the lone Opposition stoutly denied.
“How is that Mr Naidu alone is privy to this information If true, then the person declared should have been a ‘benami’ of Mr Naidu. Otherwise, how can he be so specific on the numbers,” the YSRC chief asked in his letter to the Prime Minister.
“If this information is true, then we people of Andhra Pradesh should also be aware of this information. Hence, we request your office to kindly let us know as it is also an irony that AP under Mr Naidu has been ranked as the most corrupt state in the country by National Council for Applied Economic Research just recently,” the Leader of Opposition said.
Mr Naidu, on the other hand, praised Mr Modi saying “the country is fortunate to have you as the Prime Minister at this opportune and inspiring time”.
Opportunity for transformational change arises rarely and even rarer when such opportunities are actually seized for national transformation”.
Lauding the Income Declaration Scheme, the chief minister said it has reportedly resulted in pan-India declaration of undisclosed income exceeding Rs 65,000 crore, implying a tax earning of Rs 30,000 crore.
