It is anybody’s guess that the Income Tax department’s notice to Telugu Desam Party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu on the alleged receipt of Rs 118 crore as kickbacks from a construction company was issued only after getting clearance from the top bosses in the Narendra Modi government at the Centre.
The notice was issued obviously to put pressure on Naidu ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in the state; and apparently to fetch a lot of political mileage for the YSR Congress party led by chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy.
The YSRC leaders have been attacking the TDP chief and demanding a response from him, but he and his party leaders did not make any comments on the same. They also questioned the silence of the other opposition parties like the BJP, Communists and Jana Sena Party.
Simultaneously, the Jagan government initiated a probe by the Crime Investigation Department, seeking to link the I-T notices to the previous Skill Development Corporation scam in which it accused Naidu of indulging in Rs 371 crore scam.
Naidu made a statement, indirectly referring to the I-T notice, saying the Jagan government might arrest him or even order a raid on him.
“But I am not afraid, as I have not done any mistake,” he said.
Obviously, the TDP chief is trying to get political mileage even from the I-T notices and if he is arrested, he wants to get the martyr image by gaining sympathy from the voters stating that he was being targeted.
Interestingly, while the Central leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party is seeking to embarrass Naidu by issuing the I-T notice, some Naidu sympathisers in the Andhra BJP have sought to come to the defence of the TDP chief.
“It is not a serious issue, but a small and routine thing,” said BJP state president Daggubati Purandeshwari, who is making every effort to bring a patch-up between the TDP and the BJP and forge an alliance between the two parties.
On the other hand, BJP national general secretary Y Satya Kumar, who has been going soft on the TDP and attacking the Jagan government day in and day out, said there is no question of arresting Naidu in the case.
“It is just a propaganda by the YSRC leaders. There is no such scope of arresting Naidu in the Income Tax case. In fact, Naidu is suspecting that the notice is a conspiracy of the YSRC government,” Satya said.
