Now, Cong drums up support for factory unit

First Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s son Jaganmohan returned the land sanctioned by the government to a cement plant promoted by Hyderabad-based Raghuram Cements, in which he is a director. He said while his firm was getting the plot at much higher than the prevailing price, he was hurt by charges of favouritism in the deal.

Now the Congress is doing all it can to ensure that the factory does come up at the site. Around 2,000 people from five villages of the area — Nallingayapally, Chadipiralla, Ellareddypalli, Pandillapalli and Jambapuram —gathered at Nalligayapallimetta under the aegis of party leaders yesterday and

passed two resolutions: First urging Jagan to start the cement unit as proposed earlier, and the second requesting the Chief Minister himself to lay the stone of the cement unit on April 25.

Presided over by G Veerasiva Reddy, a suspended TDP MLA from Kamalapuram, the fact-finding visit by MP V Arun Kumar on the allocation of 487 acres of land to Jagan turned into a public meeting. Addressing the meeting, both Veerasiva Reddy and Arun Kumar challenged the TDP to prove violations, if any, by the government in the allotment.

Following the allotment of the land, the Opposition had made accusations of nepotism in the deal. Returning it, Jaganmohan had advised the Revenue Department to auction it.