Blamed for graft, Andhra home minister still not behind bars

In her capacity as minister for home and jails, Sabitha Indra Reddy has made several visits to prisons in Andhra Pradesh, to look at conditions behind bars and enquire from inmates about their problems. Now that she has been named by the CBI as the fourth accused in the chargesheet in the Dalmia Cements case, in which YS Jaganmohan Reddy is accused number one, she would dread stepping into a jail. The charge is that Sabitha in her earlier stint in 2004-09, as mines and geology minister in YS Rajasekhara Reddy's cabinet, had allowed transfer of mining lease to Dalmia Cements which in turn made investments in Jagan's companies. The CBI contends this was a case of quid pro quo and has charged Sabitha with corruption, cheating, criminal conspiracy, criminal breach of trust and misuse of office. The predictable political drama followed. Sabitha offered to resign, Kiran Kumar Reddy asked her to take a strategic timeout. The chief minister had already gained match practise with the Dharmana Prasada Rao episode last year, where the Roads and Buildings minister Rao had been named as an accused in a Jagan-related case. Rao too had resigned but once it was not accepted, he returned to work as if nothing had happened. Rao is a political heavyweight from north coastal Andhra Pradesh and his family virtually controls Srikakulam district.[caption id="attachment_693605" align="alignleft" width="380"]

Andhra Pradesh Home Minister Sabitha Indra Reddy. AFP[/caption]Sabitha hopes the Congress will brazen it out for her like it did in Rao's case. The first minister to be chargesheeted, Mopidevi Venkataramana, wasn't so lucky. He was arrested immediately in May 2012, making his continuance in the cabinet untenable. So far Sabitha has been extremely lucky. Y Srilakshmi, the mines secretary during Sabitha's tenure has been in jail (barring some time when she was out on bail and in hospital) for more than a year now in the Obulapuram Mining Company (OMC) case relating to Bellary baron Gali Janardhana Reddy. This despite Srilakshmi pointing an accusing finger at her former minister during interrogation. Sabitha got away by claiming that the word 'captive mining' that resulted in preferential treatment and benefits to OMC was introduced in the file by the bureaucrats and that she was unaware of it. Sabitha's statement created fissures between IAS officers and ministers. Having a chargesheeted home minister should otherwise be a matter of acute embarrassment but the Congress in Andhra Pradesh wants to provide Sabitha with legal support at the taxpayer's expense. Because asking both Rao and Sabitha to go would certainly make the boat extremely shaky for the party in the state, given that two other senior ministers, IT minister Ponnala Laxmaiah (earlier in charge of irrigation) and Industry minister Geeta Reddy are likely to be next on the CBI hit list. These ministers were earlier issued notices by the Supreme Court to explain their role in issuing 26 controversial Government Orders that are said to have benefited Jagan when YSR was chief minister. All the four ministers have considerable clout within the party and can create problems for Kiran Kumar Reddy if shown the door. But with a year to go for the elections, a party can ill afford to be in the news for all the wrong reasons. With opposition leader Chandrababu Naidu accusing the Congress of rampant corruption, the tainted ministers can be a heavy burden on the Congress back. So far, the party has tried to blame Jagan for everything, accusing the father-son duo of deriving benefits while telling the world that the ministers were innocent angels who signed where asked to by their chief minister YSR. The question is whether the public will buy the argument. Not that the entire Congress is rallying behind Sabitha. Her son's alleged shady land deals are the talk of the town in Hyderabad. Her detractors are eyeing her high-profile ministry, pointing out that a home minister under a cloud is not good advertisement especially when the party is calling Jagan corrupt. They also point to Sabitha's proximity to YSR, who used to call her his younger sister, and inaugurated all his state programmes at her constituency, Chevella in Ranga Reddy district. But though her critics say she could cross over to the Jagan camp if the going gets tough for her in the Congress, it looks unlikely. Because only her Congress membership can save Sabitha from being conferred with undertrial status. Along with the Congress, the CBI has been under attack too, with questions asked about different yardsticks for different ministers. Why is a Mopidevi in Hyderabad central prison even while Rao and Sabitha get away scot free. In Sabitha's case, the CBI has decided only to summon her and not arrest. The CBI court has also asked the investigating agency why YSR's close aide and former advisor to the government, KVP Ramachandra Rao has not been named as an accused in Jagan's disproportionate assets case. Meanwhile the sudden flurry in the CBI camp has confused the Jagan camp. Members of the YSR Congress were expecting that the Kadapa MP would come out on bail in April, suggesting behind-the-scenes activity had worked. This business-as-usual approach of the CBI implies the central leadership is in no mood to give him any political advantage. The Congress camp in Hyderabad believes Jagan's politically inexperienced mother and sister will not be able to put up a stiff fight. The strategy is to ensure the YSR Congress party—even if it does better than the Congress and the TDP in the assembly elections next year—falls short of the half-way mark in the Andhra Pradesh assembly, forcing Jagan to be at Congress mercy to form the government.