Congress paid Rajagopal to use pepper spray in LS: Jagan

Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram’s final budget speech may have been punctuated by continuing protests from a handul of Seemandhra MPs who continued to shout slogans through the duration of his speech on Monday, but YSR Congress chief Jaganmohan Reddy has alleged that the protests in Lok Sabha, including last week’s pepper spray incident in the Parliament, were in fact stage-managed by the Congress in order to suspend MPs from the Seemandhra region and clear the floor with a view to pushing through the Telangana Bill.

In an interview to The Economic Times  the Kadapa MP cited the Rs 9,000-crore reprieve received by the company owned by L Rajagopal, the man at the centre of the pepper spray controversy,in a corporate debt restructuring scheme.

Rajagopal also reportedly received a loan of Rs 3,500 crore against equity of just Rs 239 crore, as a bailout package.

“Can such things happen without Congress leadership and UPA government pushing his case? How can somebody like Rajagopal even dream of defying the Congress high command when he is so much obliged to them,” Reddy is quoted as saying.

The YSR Congress chief also admitted that he is reaching out to the Bharatiya Janata Party for support on a united Andhra Pradesh.

He said he has met LK Advani, Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj, Arun Jaitley and others requesting that they block the bill on the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh.

Modi has been a three-term chief minister and surely understands the significance of federalism, he says. “That is why I say BJP leaders, including Modiji, must stand up unambiguously and block the bill in Parliament,” he is quoted as saying.

Speaking to NDTV, Reddy also asked why Modi should be the exception to parties that YSR Congress can work with on the Telangana issue.

Over the weekend, it was also reported  that the Janata Dal (United), which is spearheading the formation of a Third Front of sorts, has agreed to finalise a common position of about 11 constituent parties on Telangana. Reddy is reported to have said after his meeting with JD (U) chief Sharad Yadav that he hopes the latter will coordinate with other parties for floor management if the Telangana Bill is brought to vote.