Jagan should explain how he amassed wealth: Congress

HYDERABAD - A day after former MP Y.S. Jaganomhan Reddy announced his plans to float a new party, Congress leaders asked him to explain how he amassed so much wealth in such a short time.

Senior leader and Rajya Sabha member V. Hanumantha Rao said Jagan owed an explanation to people as there were allegations of various scams during the rule of his father, the late Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy.

“Jagan should tell people what was his business before 2004 and what was his income and how he got so much wealth after his father became chief minister?” Rao said while pointing out that the son of the late chief minister paid Rs.84 crore as advance tax for the first six months of the current financial year.

“It took several years for even top industrialists like Mukesh Ambani and Anil Ambani to come to this stage but Jagan needs to explain to people how he made so much money in such a short period,” said Rao.

Rao alleged that Jagan was talking big on the basis of money power.

Jagan, who quit the Congress and parliament recently, Tuesday announced that he would form a new party in 45 days. He also exuded confidence that the party would come to power in the state in 2014.

Another Congress leader and party spokesman Tulsi Reddy also launched a scathing attack on the former Kadapa MP and referred to various stories doing the rounds about his assets.

“There are several stories about his assets. He owns a palace in Bangalore and another in Pulivendula (Kadapa) and a palatial house here in Hyderabad. If he can have so many assets only as an MP, people are afraid what will he he do when he becomes chief minister,” said Tulsi Reddy.

The Congress leader alleged that Jagan began lobbying for the post of chief minister even before his father’s funeral.

Jagan and his mother Vijayalaxmi resigned from the Congress Nov 29, accusing the party leadership of trying to split their family by luring his uncle with a ministerial berth.