Tourism Minister Muttamsetti Srinivasa Rao said there was a need to book criminal proceedings and put at least some political leaders involved in land grabbing behind bars in order to get unscrupulous leaders to think twice before indulging in assault.
In a speech to the media here on Sunday, he said that Palla Sankar Rao, the brother of former Speaker of Parliament of the MLA and Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Palla Srinivasa Rao, owns 61 hectares of land in Jaggarajupeta, Tunglam and other areas of the city. He claimed this is 49 acres, both government and private, that the family has invaded. The land’s base value was 263 billion yen and the market value was estimated at 791.41 billion yen, the minister said.
The minister alleged that the TDP leaders carried out large-scale land grabbing during Mr. N. Chandrababu Naidu’s tenure and said that the TDP leaders were trying to restore the invaded land by the YSR Congress Party’s government as “Visakhapatnam for sale.” “to project” to cover up their own mistakes.
The minister asked whether Mr. Naidu would support a land grabber and continue or remove Mr. Srinivasa Rao as TDP parliamentary district president. Referring to the trial of the TDP national president who opposed the appointment of Visakhapatnam as executive capita and the distribution of residential land to the poor in the city, the tourism minister claimed that the TDP had the support of the people of Visakhapatnam and North Andhra in the elections to win power, is against the development of the region.
The minister said that only the city of Visakhapatnam in the state, with its cosmopolitan culture and infrastructure such as the international airport and railway hub, has the potential to grow with cities like Hyderabad and Chennai. He urged the opposition parties not to oppose the development of the city.
When asked, the Minister of Tourism said that no political leaders, regardless of party affiliation, would be spared if they indulged in land grabbing. In response to another question, he said that only government land would be used for “executive capital”.
On the tax hike, he replied, “You want development, but you don’t want to pay taxes and you don’t want the government to borrow money.”
BJP leaders in the state should seek to begin work on the South Coast Railway (S Co R) zone announced by the center more than two years ago, aside from securing special category status (SCS) and the special package, he added added.