TDP backing sand mafia: YSRCP

YSR Congress has said that TDP cadre has been involved in the irregularities in sand mining and flayed Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu on the special status issue besides hitting out at the state government for foisting false cases against opposition Party leaders.

"TDP government has drastically increased the prices of sand and the revenue was not reflected in the books as a major chunk went into the pockets of the ruling party coterie," party PAC member and spokesperson Ambati Rambabu told reporters on Saturday.

The State had increased the price of sand from Rs 40 per cubic metre to Rs Rs 600 which is a 17 times increase. Chief Minister had said that the increased tariff would fetch the Government a revenue of over Rs 3,000 crores but the figure shown in the record was just Rs 500 crores and the remaining amount went into the accounts of his coterie, he said.

The coordination committee of TDP-BJP met at Vijayawada and Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu had said that special status can be achieved only through consensus. This is ploy to evade the benefits of special status to the state, he said.

The State Government has been implicating YSRCP leaders in false cases. The cases against MP Mithun Reddy and MLA Ch Bhasker Reddy were only vindictive in nature and have political motives, he said.