CM shocked by Raju’s confession

The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, doubted if Maytas Infra and Maytas Properties have 6,800 acres of land. “We are aware of the Maytas claim. But I was told by my officers that the land is on agreements,” said Dr Reddy. The normal practice in Hyderabad has been that the developer pays a nominal amount to enter into agreements with the land owner and that is called agreement land. If the developer pays the entire amount the land is registered.

Talking to this newspaper, Dr Reddy said that he was shocked to hear the confession of Mr Ramalinga Raju. Dr Reddy was in New Delhi attending the Chief Ministers’ meeting when Mr Raju released his statement. “No doubt, he made the state proud with his company. He gave employment to thousands of IT engineers. In fact 50 per cent of Satyam employees are from the state,” remarked Dr Reddy. Meanwhile, the Chief Minister criticised the Opposition for painting a sorry picture of the government.

“Opposition leaders are ready to complain against the government even if they have a problem with their wives. If the wife does not cook breakfast they allege that it is the failure of government,” the Chief Minister said, ridiculing the Opposition. Coming down heavily on the Opposition parties for criticising the Congress over the Satyam episode, the Chief Minister termed such allegations as “senseless talk”.

Responding to allegations levelled by Mr Chandrababu Naidu, CPI secretary general, Mr K. Narayana, CPI(M) general secretary Mr B.V. Raghavulu, and Chiranjeevi against him, Dr Reddy lamented: “Senseless people always talk like this. I don’t want to respond to them.” He immediately added that he did not make any allegations when Mr Naidu gave a seat to Mr Ramalinga Raju when the former US president Mr Bill Clinton came to Hyderabad. “Mr Naidu was even criticised by Ramoji Rao for not inviting him to the dais,” the Chief Minister pointed out.

He recalled that even Mr Ratan Tata was made to sit in the gallery. He promised that the CBCID inquiry will not hamper other investigations carried out by the Sebi, and other Central agencies and said that the CBCID would co-ordinate with the other agencies.
“Our top priority is to protect the 53,000 employees of the company and give relief to 3 lakh investors,” he said and welcomed the Centre’s decision to appoint a three-member board to the Satyam management