(S.R.Seshu)
A own goal made by the most trusted lieutenant of the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N.Chadrababu Naidu and Legislative Assembly speaker, Kodela Sivaprasad, has given enough fodder to the opposition to create a political uproar on the latter’s election expenditure.
Though it is an open secret that politicians pump crores of rupees of money to become members of the coveted pillar of democracy-Legislature, a self-confession of he Speaker is surprising many. Almost all politicos cook up books to hoodwink the Election Commission, which put a cap on election expenditure.
The six-time MLA, Kodela, who is representing Sattenapalli Assembly constituency in Guntur district this time, in a freewheeling interview had said: “NTR himself offered Me TDP Ticket.In 1983, I won the election by spending Rs 30,000. In the last election, Rs 11.5 crore has been spent.” Kodela won the election against the YSRCP’s candidate Ambati Rambabu 924 votes and became a natural choice for Naidu for the Speaker position.
Kodela informed EC that he had spent only 15,69,651 in the Assembly elections but dropped this figure (11.5 crore) in front of a camera giving a rude shock to the TDP cadres. He also lamented that corruption was rising among the politicos due to the excessive election spending but there are not takers of it.
Armed with the Speaker’s faux pas, his electoral rival and YSRCP spokesperson Ambati Rambabu requested the EC to initiate suo moto action against Kodela forthwith. “If EC fails to do so, we will make a written complaint. Kodela and his family members are minting money,” he said.
As per the EC stipulations, an MLA candidate cannot spend more than Rs 28 lakh and an MP aspirant cannot spend more than Rs 70 lakh.
“More interestingly, the affidavit submitted by Kodala to the Election Commission shows the cumulative value of his assets at Rs 5.29 crore, but the election expenditure, on his own admission, was Rs 11.5 crore. He should show account for the over Rs 6 crore that he had spent in the elections,” YSRCP leader said.
Leaders of BJP, Congress and CPI demanded action against Kodela. The YSRCP’s mouthpieces-Sakshi Newspaper and Sakshi TV-have been harping on Kodela’s self-confession to further corner the ruling TDP. As we are posting this story, The Fourth Estate, anchored by a senior journalist Devulapalli Amar, in Sakshi-TV is taking on the TDP and its leaders on this issue.
