TDP leaders have been mounting pressure on Chandrababu Naidu’s government to register a case of cheating against former chief minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy for procuring luxurious furniture, spending crores of rupees public money at his house.
In this regard, they were pointing out a precedent of registering such a case against former Assembly Speaker Dr Kodela Siva Prasada Rao, by YS Jagan’s regime, even after he officially wrote a letter ready to pay compensation to the government.
But YCP leaders preferred to label him as a ‘furniture thief’ and attempted to take out a political mileage from it. Now TDP leaders are questioning that If Kodela did something wrong, why do they hesitate to blame YS Jagan on the same lines?
After the TDP’s defeat in the 2019 elections, the YSP government filed a case against Kodela, who had served as Speaker till then, for stealing assembly furniture on the basis of a complaint by Narasaraopet YCP MLA Gopireddy Srinivas Reddy filed a complaint with Srinivasa Reddy.
The furniture in dispute relates to the Joint Assembly in Hyderabad. Some furniture was confirmed as AP’s share and it was sent to Amaravati in lorries. There were big tables and old chairs in it. The assembly in Amaravati has already been fully furnished.
Kodela said that as there is no space to put them in the new assembly, he will use them if they are put in his camp office. So sent there. In the 2019 elections, TDP and Kodela also lost. On June 3, Kodela called the assembly secretary and told that there is assembly furniture in his camp office.
In continuation of this, a letter was sent to the Secretary of the Assembly on the 7th. It is stated in it that if the rate is fixed for the old furniture, he will pay for it and keep it himself. But no reply came. On August 20, Kodela wrote another letter to the new Speaker Tammineni Sitaram.
The letter was also acknowledged by the staff of the Speaker’s office as received. Later these letters were thrown aside and a case was registered against Kodela for theft of assembly furniture. His family members alleged that Kodela committed suicide due to this humiliation only.
The total value of old furniture used by Kodela in his camp office was Rs 2 lakh only. But contrary, Jagan Mohan Reddy used furniture purchased by the government spending several crores of rupees and used in the camp office set up in his Tadepalli Palace.
After stepping down from office, he should hand over the furniture to the government. But an announcement was made in the name of YCP MLC Lella Appireddy that if the price of the furniture is high, they will pay. TDP leaders are furious over this. A senior leader of the party demanded that the same case should be filed against Jagan on the lines of the filed against Kodela.