A cabinet minister in Andhra Pradesh on Sunday urged the Central Bureau of Investigations (CBI) to conduct a probe against ministers in the late chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy's cabinet while investigating the assets of his son Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy.
Textiles Minister Shankar Rao, on whose petition the Andhra Pradesh High Court last week ordered full-fledged probe against Jaganmohan Reddy, has written a letter to the CBI director general, demanding that the erstwhile ministers of YSR, as the late chief minister was popularly called, also be covered in the investigations.
Jagan, as YSR's son is popularly known, allegedly amassed huge wealth as companies which received benefits from his father's decisions invested big money in his businesses in a quid pro quo arrangement.
Shankar Rao's move can spell trouble for many of his ministerial colleagues who also served in the YSR ministry from 2004 to 2009.
He even demanded that the CBI immediately arrest those facing charges as they may tamper with the evidence against them.
Interestingly, the YSR Congress party, which Jagan floated recently after leaving the Congress, has also demanded that since the cabinet took collective decisions, then ministers should also be covered under the CBI investigations.
Jagan also stated that if investigations are to be conducted against him, more than 50 per cent of the ministers in the present cabinet would also have to face the probe.
Shankar Rao told reporters here on Sunday that he urged the CBI to take up investigations at the earliest and complete these in a fixed time-frame. He demanded that nobody involved in either Jagan case or Emaar properties case be spared.
The court, on the petitions of Shankar Rao and some Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leaders, ordered full-fledged CBI probe into the allegations against Jagan and also into the alleged irregularities in developing a realty project in Hyderabad committed by Dubai-based Emaar in joint venture with the state government.
The CBI has already conducted preliminary investigations in both cases and submitted its reports to the high court.
The court, in its order, asked the CBI to probe all those who may not be respondents in the case but may be involved in irregularities.
Meanwhile, state Congress chief Bosta Satyanarayana, who was himself a minister in the YSR cabinet, said there was nothing wrong in the demand for investigations against YSR's ministers.
He, however, said while the cabinet is collectively responsible for the decisions taken in the cabinet meeting, it cannot be blamed for behind-the-scenes dealings or decisions.
Senior Congress leader V. Hanumantha Rao demanded that YSR's close aide and then advisor K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao should also be probed as he played a key role in several decisions.