The latest exposure of massive land dealings in and around the new Andhra Pradesh capital of Amaravati by Sakshi, the media house owned by YSR Congress party president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, might be helping him gain a lot of political mileage over the ruling Telugu Desam Party; but for common man, it is no big news as all political leaders irrespective of their party affiliation are involved in the land mafia.
People have seen how land mafia has ruled – for that matter, it is still ruling—in and around Hyderabad.
The so-called development of Cyberabad, considered to be the second Silicon Valley, during the previous regime of Chandrababu Naidu, smacks of a big land mafia.
There were allegations that Naidu and his community members, particularly Jayabheri group owned by present Telugu Desam Party MP from Rajahmundry Murali Mohan, had purchased large tracts of land at Madhapur before it was developed as Hitech City.
The land values rose sharply and the TDP bigwigs made big money those days. One can still find the presence of Jayabheri for every one km in Madhapur area. Later, it spread to the newer IT corridor at Gachibowli.
During the Y S Rajasekhar Reddy regime, the land mafia spread to other parts of the city like Miyapur, Kukatpally, Patancheru etc. The growth of big realtors like Indu, Lanco, Emaar and Ramky was attributed to the patronage of the YSR government.
A large extent of land in and around Hyderabad is held by benamis of the big political leaders. After the Telangana Rashtra Samithi came to power in the new State of Telangana, another set of realtors owing allegiance to the ruling party including My Home Group, is flourishing in all parts of Hyderabad.
Now with Naidu deciding to develop Amaravati as the new capital of AP, land mafia extended its tentacles to this area much before the foundation stone was laid. That was how the ruling party leaders had bought huge extent of land in and around the new capital to make a quick buck.
Of course, there are allegations that YSR Congress party leaders, too, have purchased vast areas in the new capital region.
The bottomline is that the people are not surprised with the growth of land mafia. So, there is no point in making challenges and counter-challenges, as it is no poll issue in 2019 elections.
