Lagadapati making allegations to safeguard his investments: TRS

As expected, the Telangana Rashtra Samithi on Monday reacted angrily to the allegations by Vijayawada MP Lagadapati Rajagopal that the party is minting money from the separate statehood agitation by describing the comments as Mr Rajagopal’s attempts to safeguard his investments in Telangana.

Talking to media persons at Telangana Bhavan, TRS politburo member G Jagadish Reddy said that Mr Rajagopal was levelling baseless allegations against the party since he wanted to safeguard his investments in the region.

Mr Jagadish Reddy added that Mr Rajagopal was afraid that he would have to forfeit the lands allotted to Lanco Hills, a company the Vijayawada MP owns, in the event of a separate Telangana state being created.

He also condemned Mr Rajagopal’s statement that TRS president K Chandrasekhar Rao and his family were the only beneficiaries of the separate statehood agitation by saying that KCR was ready for a probe into his assets at ‘any given time.’

“If you are true to your words, then agree to face any probe into your own assets,” Mr Jagadish Reddy challenged the MP.

Responding on Mr Rajagopal’s questions to the Telangana leaders why they were threatening to resign frequently and recontest elections, thus wasting public money, TRS leader D Shravan said that the Assembly is not the property of the Vijayawada MP’s grandfather.

“The Assembly was constructed by the Nizam and not by Mr Rajagopal’s grandfather,” Mr Shravan said.

Responding to Mr Rajagopal’s statement that bifurcation of the state would lead to communal disharmony, he demanded Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and Speaker Nadendla Manohar to book a suo moto case against the MP.

“Hyderabad is known for communal harmony and both Hindus and Muslims are living in peace here,” the TRS politburo member said.