Hyderabad:
More skeletons continue to tumble out of the Reddy closet. It has now emerged that Gali Janardhana Reddy, the jailed former Karnataka minister and one among the trio of the powerful Reddy brothers from Bellary, made crores out of a fictitious steel plant aided by former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. Even though the plant never came up, Mr Reddy was allowed to export all the iron ore that he was exclusively permitted to in the name of the project.
Mr Reddy was allotted 10,760 acres of government land by the YSR government in 2007 for the setting up of a Rs 20,000-crore captive steel plant. Named Brahmani Steels, the plant at Jammalamadugu in Andhra Pradesh's Kadapa district was inaugurated with much fanfare with YSR arriving in a chopper. Also in attendance were the chief minister's son Jagan Mohan Reddy and several of his cabinet colleagues. But the largesse by the YSR government didn't end there. It also gave another 4000 acres of land to Mr Reddy for developing an airport with the promise of generating 10,000 direct jobs and other one lakh indirect jobs via the two projects.
"We will also make a big airport here. Like Hyderabad, Chennai and Bangalore, aircraft will come and land right here", Mr Reddy had proclaimed.
Four years on, there's no sign yet of the steel plant. Mr Reddy, however, managed to raise Rs 350 crore by using the land that he had procured for just Rs 18 crore from the YSR government. He also reportedly exported 54 lakh tonnes of iron ore that was meant to be used by the steel plant.
The state government has now distanced itself from the matter, terming it a decision by YSR.
"Allotment of iron ore, that is captive mining, to Obulapuram Mining Company, Anantapur Mining Company and 3-4 more companies, that decision was taken by YSR, not the Cabinet. The concessions to Brahmani Industries, the Cabinet is collectively responsible", state minister D L Ravindra Reddy said.
The Opposition, meanwhile, attacked the government for helping the mining magnate manipulate the process.
"While finalising the contract, they eliminated competition in the name of Brahmani captive unit and later they issued a government order to sell iron anywhere as they like", former chief minister and Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu said.
Jagan, who broke away from the Congress last year to form his own party after YSR's death, is already under the scanner for his links to the Reddys - more precisely for getting a stake in Brahmani Steels in return for his father favouring a particular promoter. The latest revelations are bound to add to his troubles as also for the jailed mining magnate.