VP polls: Congress poses 4 ‘graft’ queries to Naidu

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, July 24

Eager to turn the August 5 Vice Presidential election into a real contest, opposition Congress on Monday asked NDA’s nominee M Venkaiah Naidu to come clean on four counts of corruption.

“Mr Naidu is a very senior leader. He is a champion of transparency and a master player with words. By his own standards of probity, we want to ask him some questions and hope the BJP and Mr Naidu himself give answers,” Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said levelling accusations of corruption on Naidu and his kin and demanding answers, given the esteem of the VP contest.

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The Congress’ first allegation pertained to the Telengana government on June 20 passing orders exempting a local trust from paying Rs 2 crore development charges to the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority.

“The exemption was granted to Swaran Bharat Trust whose managing trustee is Mr Naidu’s daughter. Is this true or not?” asked Ramesh.

He asked as to why the Telengana government in July 2014 placed an order for 4,000 bikes and cars with two dealers–one where the owner was Telangana CM’s son and the other where the owner was Mr Naidu’s son.

In the third question, the Congress asked Naidu whether or not the Supreme Court had by an order in April 2011 quashed the allotment of prime 20-acre Bhopal land to Khushabhau Memorial Trust whose head was Naidu himself and also whether or not Naidu returned the five acres meant for the landless to Nellore district administration in 2002 under public pressure?

“Is all this true or not? Considering the high standards of probity Mr Naidu speaks of, we hope he will answer these questions. The nation wants to know,” Ramesh said.

The Congress-led opposition has fielded non-political Gopalkrishna Gandhi in the contest.