TDP State president K. Atchannaidu and other leaders releasing a factbook on the skill development project at the party office near Mangalagiri in Guntur district, on October 6.
| Photo Credit: G.N. Rao
Telugu Desam Party (TDP) State president K. Atchannaidu released a factbook on the skill development project on October 6, and asserted that no scam had taken place in it.
The arrest of former Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu’s for “masterminding” a “non-existent scandal” smacked of political vendetta, Mr. Atchannaidu said.
He said that Mr. Naidu had been in prison for almost a month, during which period the government made several baseless allegations to show the TDP national president as corrupt, without any evidence that would corroborate the charges framed against him.
The government had implicated Mr. Naidu in the skill development scam and dragged him into the Amaravati Inner Ring Road alignment and FiberNet scam cases as well only to ensure that he stayed in prison for a prolonged time.
It was all a vicious campaign unleashed by Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy against Mr. Naidu with sheer political motives, he alleged.
So far, the CID could not produce concrete evidence of the alleged siphoned funds, while the scam was said to be worth about ₹3,300 crore.
Mr. Atchannaidu said the CID was foolish in making its argument that the donations given to the TDP were nothing but proceeds of the illegal transactions that had gone into the pockets of Mr. Naidu.
Not even a single rupee out of those funds flowed into the personal bank accounts of Mr. Naidu, or any of his family members. Like any political party, the TDP had received donations and also membership fee, which were properly accounted for, Mr. Atchannaidu said.
“The TDP is complying with all procedures laid down by the Election Commission of India, but the CID has sought to pick holes in it for obvious reasons,” he added.
MLC Panchumarthi Anuradha, MLA Nimmala Rama Naidu, former MLAs Dhulipalla Narendra Kumar and Bonda Umamaheswara Rao, and party general secretary Varla Ramaiah were present.