We will come out clean: Andhra ministers on resignations

As pressure mounted to sack them, Andhra Pradesh ministers D Prasada Rao and P Sabitha Reddy, who have been charge-sheeted in the cases involving YSR Congress president Jaganmohan Reddy, today said they stood by their resignations and intend to stay away from their posts.

The two ministers said they had submitted their resignations earlier after being charge-sheeted in the cases and were confident of coming out unscathed.

"I have submitted resignation after CBI named me in the charge-sheet. They were only allegations. They are to be proved. I have faith in judiciary. We will come out clean and we followed business rules (in issuing the Government Orders for which they were found fault with)," Roads and Buildings Minister D Prasada Rao told reporters after meeting Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy here.

Rao said he will abide by any decision of the Chief Minister and continue to serve the Congress party.

Rao, who was Revenue Minister in the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy government, was named as an accused in CBI charge sheet in the Vanpic land allotment scandal.

He had submitted resignation to the Chief Minister in August last year and had even stayed away from official duties for about three months, but resumed subsequently.
Home Minister Sabita, who was previously Minister for Mines in the Rajasekhara Reddy regime, was made an accused in the alleged illegal allocation of mines to certain cement companies.

She had offered to quit in April after being named as an accused, but the state Congress leadership persuaded her not to quit.

"I have faith in courts and judiciary. We will come out clean. I had submitted my resignation in April itself. I stand by that. I have cooperated with the CBI in their investigation and will continue to do so. I did not violate any rules in issuing the GOs," she said.

The two ministers refused to take questions from journalists.

The two ministers met the Chief Minister late last night and sources indicated that they had offered to step down from their posts, though there was no official word on the matter.

The development came after the Chief Minister was reportedly told by the top Congress leadership to drop the charge-sheeted ministers.

Stepping up pressure to remove them, TDP chief N Chandrababu Naidu today met President Pranab Mukherjee to apprise him of the situation.

The TDP has also announced its decision to organise protests over the issue.

The resignation of Union Ministers Pavan Kumar Bansal and Ashwani Kumar following allegations of corruption and impropriety, has given ammunition to the opposition to target the chief minister, demanding axing of the two ministers.

The CBI had arrested another minister Mopidevi Venkataramana in Vanpic case in May last year and he is currently lodged in a jail here along with Jaganmohan Reddy and others.

He had also stepped down from his post.