TDP chief denies favouring mining mafia in Andhra

Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader and former Andhra chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu on Saturday denied charges that he had favoured G. Janardhan Reddy, the former Karnataka minister, arrested by the CBI for illegal iron ore mining.

Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, the chief of the YSR Congress, and son of Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy, the former Andhra chief minister, who was killed in an air crash, had on Friday accused Naidu of favouring the mining mafia in the state and had urged the CBI to probe his role in the scam.

''I have no fear as I did no mistake,'' Naidu told a gathering in Kurnool on Saturday during a padyatra. ''I informed the same to former chief minister YSR.'' The TDP chief accused the late YSR and his son of starting their newspaper and cement business allegedly with ill-gotten funds.

''I have just three bedrooms in my house,'' said Naidu. ''One is for me and another is for my son. The third one is meant for guests. But in just five years, the YSR family owns huge palaces in Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kadapa, Pulivendula and Idupulapaya.''

According to Naidu, YSR had filed 15 cases against him in the supreme court and the high court. He also set up 26 commissions of inquiry, but they failed to prove any charges against him.

Jaganmohan Reddy, who started his own political outfit after the Congress denied him the chief ministership of the state after his father's death, was on Friday summoned by the CBI for questioning about his links to the mining mafia.