By IANS,
Hyderabad : Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy has rejected allegations by Telugu superstar-turned-politician Chiranjeevi that his government was acting like a broker by selling land to private companies.
The chief minister said that “criticism for the sake of criticism” was not proper on the part of the new party launched by the actor and he went on to defend the sale of government lands.
Participating in a debate on a Telugu television channel, Reddy said the government was developing assets by making use of unproductive government lands that were vulnerable to encroachment.
Chiranjeevi, while launching his ‘Praja Rajyam’ in Tirupati Aug 26, came down heavily on the government for selling state-owned land to private companies and for acquiring cultivable land for Special Economic Zones.
“The sale of government land amounts to selling away the future of our children. The government should be custodian of these lands and not act as a broker,” the actor had said.
The chief minister said that land lying idle faced the threat of encroachment and being sold through auction to mobilise funds for various programmes related to public welfare.