I was pressured: Ramana

Andhra Pradesh excise minister Mopidevi Venkata Ramana Rao who was arrested by the CBI on Thursday, blamed YSR Congress chief Y S Jaganmohan Reddy for his plight.

“I became victim for Jagan's greed for money and power. I was pressurized to sign by MGC Bhanu IAS in the CMO to do so,” Mopidevi said in his resignation letter about the four controversial GOs he issued as minister for ports and infrastructure in 2007 in the erstwhile YS Rajasekhara Reddy government, doling out huge tracts of land to the controversial VANPIC project.

“My three decades of political career is washed away by my honesty and sincerity,” he bemoaned. In the remand note, the CBI charged the minister with having accepted a bribe of Rs 8 crore in allotting land for the controversial project of Nimmagadda Prasad combine, including the RAK of UAE and the Navayuga group.

Mopidevi was the first minister and fourth in the list to be arrested in the Jagan’s case.
His arrest has sent jitters among several other ministers of the YSR cabinet, who were allegedly involved in various acts of omissions and commissions.