TDP and YSRCP keep trading barbs over I-T raids on TDP leader and Naidu's ex-PA

A day after the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) shared details of the Income Tax department’s raid at party chief, N Chandrababu Naidu’s former personal secretary’s house, claiming no unaccounted cash had been found, the YSRCP has now blamed them for ‘underplaying’ the raid. 

 

On Sunday, the TDP made public one page of the 'panchnama' (seizure memo) for the I-T department's raid at Naidu’s former PS P Srinivas Rao. Pointing to the document, the TDP said that it mentioned that Rs 2,63,000 was found at Srinivas’ residence, and the amount was later returned after showing proof of the source of funds. 

 

The YSRCP has now shared the full version of the panchnama or seizure memo, claiming that the TDP was underplaying the I-T raids and distorting the figures to protect Naidu. Though the 13 page panchnama shared by YSRCP has nothing new on Srinivas Rao, it does have the details of the searches at TDP Kadapa District President Srinivasa Reddy. "By releasing just one page of the panchnama, the TDP was pretending as if no other raids happened," a YSRCP source said. The 13 page panchnama shows a list of account books seized from RK Infrastructure company that has ties to the Kadapa TDP president. 

 

The controversy began on Friday, when an official statement from the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said that searches were carried out by the I-T department in around 40 premises, on February 6, in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and even Delhi and Pune. According to the statement, unaccounted cash worth Rs 85 lakh and jewellery worth Rs 71 lakh were seized during the searches. 

 

Searches were also conducted at three prominent infrastructure companies based in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and the statement said that several incriminating evidence was found, suggesting that more than Rs 2,000 crore were siphoned off through bogus transactions. 

 

While the CBDT statement mentioned that the search operations were conducted on ‘close associates’, including ex-personal secretary of ‘a prominent person’, it did not name any firms or persons. 

 

The TDP objected to the way in which the statement had been interpreted by the YSRCP, with Sakshi media, owned by Chief Minister Jagan’s family, linking the Rs 2,000 crore ‘scam’ directly to Naidu’s former personal secretary. An article in Sakshi also went on to connect the entire contents of the CBDT statement, including the infrastructure companies, to Naidu and other TDP leaders. 

 

The TDP has accused the YSRCP of making a false connection between the party leaders and the siphoning of Rs 2,000 crore. Sharing the I-T panchnama on Sunday, TDP leaders further accused YSRCP of falsely implicating P Srinivas. 

 

On Monday, YSRCP MLA Gudivada Amarnath told reporters that I-T officials have made it clear in their press statement that a Rs 2,000 crore scandal had taken place. “It is pathetic to see them accusing the government despite having clear evidence… In the press statement of I-T department, it was clearly mentioned that during the raids on Pendyala Srinivas, the officials have identified that shell companies that belong to the Kilari Rajesh, close associate of Nara Lokesh, along with Prathipathi Sharat, son of former minister Prathipati Pulla Rao and TDP member who runs RK Infra company.”

 

However, the CBDT statement did not actually mention any names of companies of persons.