At a time when his party colleagues are clamouring for poll tickets, a Puducherry minister has shown he is a different breed by declaring retirement from active politics.
On record, Malladi Krishna Rao of Yanam, an enclave of the Union Territory situated in Andhra Pradesh, says he is quitting with a sense of fulfillment as he has done all that he wished for his constituency, but his aides insist that he wants to stay away because politics is becoming increasingly corrupt.
“I am leaving with total satisfaction that I could develop Yanam through several projects costing over `1,300 crore in the last 16 years, such as housing schemes, concrete roads and supplying protected water. Yanam is now a model Assembly segment in Puducherry,” Mr Rao said justifying his decision to retire ‘gracefully’.
But an aide, requesting anonymity said, “Actually, the minister wants to quit politics because he is disgusted with the unethical practices going on in the implementation of government schemes.” Even his detractors admit that Mr Rao had nurtured Yanam right from 1996 when he got elected as an independent.
Some critics alleged that his retirement decision was inspired by the charge that he had misappropriated the `5 crore ‘gift’ granted by the government of late Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy — who was his close friend — to Yanam as its share from the `13 crore seigniorage fee paid by Reliance for laying pipelines and dredging river Gowthami, a tributary of Godavari, because half of the river falls in Yanam territory. “A big part of the fund was used for dredging and other development works in the municipality. The rest is still unutilised,” Mr Rao explained.
Asked whether he would allow a member of his family to step into his political shoes, Mr Rao said, “Certainly not. I do not believe in family politics.” He said he has written to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh about his decision to retire, but will “continue to be a Congress strongman”.