Andhra Pradesh IT and Panchayati Raj and Rural Development Minister Nara Lokesh lashed out at opposition leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy, and asked him to prove the allegations that the latter made against him.
Lokesh, who is also the TDP's national general secretary, was addressing cadre at the party's annual conclave on its third and final day.
Stating that his grandfather, N T Rama Rao, who founded the TDP, and his father, N Chandrababu Naidu, had both been chief ministers of Andhra, he stated that he would strive to live up to their legacies.
“On one hand, Jagan tells people in Godavari districts not to give their land for Pattiseema and other projects threatening them that the water will be diverted to Rayalaseema. On the other, he instigates the people of Rayalaseema saying that water supply is a facility given only to the coastal people," Lokesh was quoted as saying.
The 'allegations' that Lokesh was referring to, followed a CBI complaint filed by the YSRCP at Visakhapatnam district on May 23.
A YSRCP delegation led by district president Gudivada Amarnath, alleged that Lokesh, and several other influential people grabbed land in Daspalla Hills.
The YSRCP alleged that the case involved land, spread over 80 acres, under several survey numbers.
"The registrations of these stretches were done in the name of some private persons at the behest of Lokesh. Then district collector N Yuvraj notified these lands as government lands, but he was transferred soon," Amarnath told the media.
The CBI accepted the complaint, but asked for a directive from the High Court to initiate a probe.
“Whatever they (YSRCP) do, it is difficult to stop sunlight with the palm of your hand, and Reddy cannot stop the onward march of Andhra Pradesh,” Lokesh added.