The public interest litigation (PIL) petition filed by former Congress MP from Rajahmundry and political activist Vundavalli Arun Kumar in the Andhra Pradesh high court seeking a probe by Central Bureau of Investigation into the multi-crore skill development corporation scam has kicked up an uproar in the state politics.
The high court which has listed the petition is expected to take up hearing in a day or two.
The former MP submitted all the documents to the high court, including the FIR against former chief minister and Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu, the previous case details of Enforcement Directorate and GST wing etc.
He argued that the case is fit to be probed by the CBI, as the skill development scheme had been extended to three other states and it involved issues like economic offences and evasion of GST.
Moreover, the Enforcement Directorate has also investigated into the case and arrested four people in this regard.
“Therefore, it is appropriate that the skill development corporation case is entrusted to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI),” he argued.
The TDP leaders are naturally fuming at Vundavalli for allegedly colluding with YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy to target Naidu personally. The TDP social media wing has been posting pungent messages against the former MP.
However, a section of political analysts also feel that Vundavalli is, in fact, trying to help the TDP chief.
“The fact that he wants the CBI to take up the case itself is an indication that he has no confidence over the CID investigation,” an analyst said.
Apparently, Vundavalli may be trying to prove a point that the CID, which is dancing to the tunes of Jagan, is probing the case only to target Naidu.
If the case is entrusted to the CBI, it will investigate into the case in a broader angle and not necessarily in the direction of targeting the TDP chief.
Secondly, if the CBI takes up the case, it will take its own time to probe it and Naidu can get out of the jail, at least till the elections to the state assembly are held. That would help the party a lot in the elections/
And since the CBI will not probe the case in the angle of fixing only Naidu, it might not object to the court granting the bail, the analyst said.