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Counter View: That Is Politics, My Friend!

Just read Mahesh Aditya’s opinion. It is pretty evident from his view point that he is an out-and-out ardent fan of Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.

Well, there are many such Adityas all over Andhra Pradesh and even abroad who blindly support Jaganmohan Reddy and continue to remain blind to the fact he had grown into the richest parliamentarian in the country in a span of just four of five years. So, the opinion does not surprise anyone.

But there is one aspect that not only surprised, but also shocked me. He has attributed motives to the judiciary just because it has ordered a CBI inquiry into Jagan’s assets based on a letter written by what he describes as a clown – textiles minister P Shankar Rao. And he has gone to the extent of describing Tuesday as a black day in Andhra Pradesh politics.

Perhaps Aditya does not know the credibility of the judges on the division bench – Chief Justice Nissar Ahmed Kakru and Justice Vilas Afzalpurkar.

Nobody has ever pointed any accusing finger at these judges. For that matter, any other judges in their place also would have done the same thing, because the case has some merit it in, irrespective of whether the letter was written by Shankar Rao and somebody else. It was not a petition; but a letter written almost seven months ago and the court has taken up the case as suo motu.

The bench has also mentioned that it has prima facie evidence, which includes the notice served by Income Tax department on Jagan’s companies in October, 2010. In fact, the department had been doing its investigation since July 2009, after the submission of the income tax returns for 2008-09. And YSR was alive at the time of commencement of investigation!

Those who have gone through the Income Tax notice (I have gone through and I have a copy of it with me) can clearly understand that several of the companies which had reportedly invested crores of rupees in Jagathi Publications promoted by Jagan were fictitious and those big companies which had invested in his firms had bought shares at a very high premium, obviously after they got benefited from YSR government.

Now, Jagan has been defending through the reports in Sakshi daily and channel, by posing a counter-question: when Ramoji Rao and Mukesh Ambani could resort to such business tactics to mobilize investments, what’s wrong if I do the same? If Ramoji and Ambani have done it, they should definitely be exposed – in fact, Ramoji is still facing the trial and Ambani is in the soup woth the exposure by CAG. But, that does not justify Jagan’s illegal way of mobilizing funds.

Yet, there is one difference between them and Jagan. Unlike Ramoji and Mukesh, Jagan has directly entered politics and is claiming that he is the only mass leader after his father having concern for the poor and all other parties and leaders are duds. So he has to file his opponents politically.

Whether one agrees or not, Jagan has come out of the Congress just because Sonia Gandhi has ignored his claim for the chief minister post after the death of YSR. Well, there is nothing wrong in Jagan aspiring for the CM post and launching his own political party to achieve his goal.

It is natural in democracy. In fact, one must compliment him for taking such a bold step. But it is also natural that his political rivals try to attack him for their own survival.

The reason why Shankar Raos and DLRs did not expose the irregularities in Jagan’s business empire when YSR was alive is very simple: Jagan was in the Congress party and any such attack would only damage the party prospects.

The job was done by the Telugu Desam Party leaders, because they were in the opposition. Now, Jagan is in the opposition and hence, the Congress leaders are attacking him. It is as simple as that.

The same logic applies to the question as to why these Congress leaders are not asking where Quattrochi is or what happened to the Bofors scandal and what the nationality of Sonia is. It is the duty of the opposition parties. Are we not observing Jagan’s camp questioning Sonia’s nationality or her son-in-law Robert Vadhera’s ill gotten assets in Delhi surroundings now? If anybody questions him why Jagan did not question Sonia’s nationality all these days, what is the answer? It is simple: Jagan was in the Congress party all these days and his father YSR was treating Sonia as his god-mother.

So, political vendetta against the rivals is very common in Indian politics. If Jagan has earned his wealth through legitimate means, neither high court nor CBI can pluck a hair from him. He will come out unscathed. That gives him further strength to counter attack his political rivals. So, all the best Jagan!

Written By Kashyap

The views expressed in the article are the author's and not of greatandhra.com.

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