By IANS,
Hyderabad : Andhra Pradesh Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan has returned to the state cabinet a file relating to its recommendation not to give permission to the CBI to prosecute senior cabinet minister Dharmana Prasada Rao, advising further legal opinion be sought, said informed sources.
The governor sent back the relevant file to Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar a couple of days ago, the sources said Friday.
The state cabinet on Nov 23 had passed a resolution turning down the Central Bureau of Investigation’s (CBI) request for permission to prosecute the minister in YSR Congress party leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy’s disproportionate assets case. The cabinet recommended to the governor not to sanction the permission.
The return of the file came to light a few hours after the CBI filed a memo in the special court for CBI cases stating that sanction was not required to prosecute Dharmana and a former minister Mopidevi Venkatramna, who is already in jail.
The court issued notice to the two Congress leaders, seeking their reply to the CBI memo.
The CBI pointed out that Mopidevi ceased to be a public servant after he resigned following his arrest in May this year and hence no permission is required to prosecute him.
The investigating agency in August had filed a charge sheet naming Mopidevi and Dharmana as accused number four and five in the case relating to allotment of land to Vodarevu and Nizampatnam Ports and Industrial Corridor (Vanpic) project.
The CBI, in its memo, also argued that since Dharmana is no longer holding the portfolio which he held during the scam, there is no need for government’s permission to prosecute him.
Dharmana, who is currently holding roads and buildings portfolio, was minister for revenue in Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy’s government. Mopidevi, who was minister for excise at the time of his arrest, was holding investment portfolio in YSR’s cabinet.
The two ministers allegedly abused their respective positions to favour Vanpic promoters in return for the investments they allegedly made in the companies of Jaganmohan Reddy, son of then chief minister Rajasekhara Reddy.
Jagan, as the young MP is popularly known, is the main accused and is in judicial custody since his arrest in May this year.
Meanwhile, Health Minister D.L. Ravindra Reddy, who had opposed passing the resolution in the Nov 23 cabinet meeting, Friday said that with the governor sending back the relevant file he stood vindicated.
Ravindra Reddy, a known critic of the chief minister, questioned his action in passing a resolution in the cabinet instead of taking a decision on his own. The health minister told reporters that at least now the chief minister should change his style of functioning. He claimed that the Congress’s central leadership is looking into the issue.
The development has embarrassed the Congress. State Congress chief Botsa Satyanarayana called on the chief minister and is believed to have discussed the development and the possibility of sending back the file to the governor.
Talking to reporters, Satyanarayana said if the CBI believed that it requires no permission to prosecute Dharmana, why did it seek the government’s permission in the first place.
Leader of opposition and Telugu Desam Party (TDP) chief N. Chandrababu Naidu wondered why Dharmana was not arrested. He alleged that the chief minister is trying to protect the ministers facing corruption charges.
Another TDP leader Y. Ramakrishnudu wrote a letter to the chief minister, asking him to apologise to the people for passing a resolution in the cabinet to shield a minister facing corruption charges.
Dharmana had submitted his resignation after CBI named him in the charge sheet. However, the chief minister has still not taken a decision on it.