It was a meteoric rise for Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy in
Andhra politics after fate cut short the life of his father and then
Chief Minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy in a helicopter crash on
September 2, 2009.
Even though he became an MP from
Kadapa Lok Sabha in 2009 May elections, the tragic death of his father
propelled him to the centre-stage of State politics after 151 of the 156
Congress MLAs signed a petition urging the Congress high command to
make him the Chief Minister. However, the AICC leaders frowned upon the
idea and made veteran leader K. Rosaiah to take over the reins.
Till
then Mr. Jagan, YSR's only son, was living in Bangalore to look after
the business interests pertaining to power, cement, media and other
sectors. Even as Mr. Rosaiah began his innings as Chief Minister, Mr.
Jagan became a virtual power centre in the State with several Ministers
and legislators frequently flocking to him. In a bid not to disturb the
equilibrium in the party, the high command was forced to retain most of
the Ministers who were hardcore YSR loyalists in Mr. Rosaiah's Cabinet.
Seeking
to consolidate his position politically, Mr. Jagan planned to launch a
tour of the State to console the families of those who committed suicide
or died of heart attack following the unexpected death of YSR. With
AICC president Sonia Gandhi rejecting his proposal to go on the tour, he
defied the leadership and launched ‘Odarpu Yatra'.
He later parted ways with the Congress and launched his own YSR Congress Party on March 12, 2011.
Following
separate petitions filed by the then Minister P. Shankar Rao and Telugu
Desam leader, K. Yerran Naidu, the Andhra Pradesh High Court directed
the CBI to probe into allegations of amassing of wealth illegally by Mr.
Jagan. Subsequently, the CBI registered a case on August 17, 2011 by
naming Mr. Jagan as the first accused in the disproportionate assets
case. The FIR mentioned that Mr. Jagan and his father “who was holding
high constitutional position have adopted several ingenious ways to
amass illegal wealth which resulted in great public injury”. The modus
operandi followed by the duo was to dole out public properties,
licenses, allotting/ granting various projects, including the SEZs,
mining leases, ports, real estate permissions and other benefits to the
persons of their choice in violation of established norms and procedures
with a clear understanding of “quid pro quo”, the FIR stated.
The
beneficiaries, in turn, have given bribes to Mr. Jagan under the guise
of purchasing shares in companies floated by him at huge and
unsubstantiated premiums.
The IPC Sections under
which Mr. Jagan and others were charged include 120-B (criminal
conspiracy), 420 (cheating) 409 (criminal breach of trust) and 477-A (
falsification of accounts). They were also charged under sections of the
Prevention of the Corruption Act.
from Hindu
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