The YSRCP government has stated former Union minister and BJP MP Sujana Chowdary owns 623 acres in Amaravati. The statement by the state government comes a day after BJP MP denied owning any land in Amaravati.
The statement said that Chowdary and his family members had bought 623.12 acres of land inside and around the capital area region skirting the land pooling zone. It said this proved the allegation that there was “insider trading” in the capital region. The state government released the details after Chowdary denied allegations by the state Urban Development Minister Botsa Satyanarayana that he owns huge amounts of land in Amaravati.
Chowdary, who recently quit the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) to join the BJP, on Tuesday visited villages in Amaravati along with state BJP chief Kanna Lakshminarayana and denied that he holds any land in the capital region. He also denied that there was any insider trading.
YSRCP has alleged that then Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu and those close to him resorted to ‘insider trading’ by buying land at throwaway prices before deciding on Amaravati as the state capital. The government revealed that Chowdary, who is popularly known as Sujana Chowdary, purchased 110.6 acres hectares in Gudimetla village of Krishna district at Rs500,000 (Dh25,609) per acre before the announcement of Amaravati as the state capital.
“The land was bought by one Jatin Kumar, who heads one of the 120 shell companies of Chowdary,” said an official statement. “Chandrababu had leaked the information to his close aides about the proposed capital Amaravati. Many TDP leaders, including Y.S. Chowdary, purchased land at low cost from the Amaravati farmers. After all the lands were in the name of TDP leaders or their relatives, on September 4, 2014, Chandrababu Nadu announced Amaravati as the new capital city of Andhra Pradesh.”
Giving survey numbers of the land, the state government said that the land is in the name of Shiva Satya Pigments Private Limited, which is one among the 120 companies established by Chowdary. “The cost of the same land hiked to Rs50 lakh [Rs5 million] per acre. By this, it is clear that he has made Rs50 crore [Rs500 million] profit in the name of Amaravati.” The statement said that Chowdary’s nephew Yelamanchali Jathin Kumar also made huge profits by establishing Shiva Jyothi Flycon Blocks Private Limited in 11.56 acres of land. Chowdary had adopted Ponnavaram village, where he purchased 13.39 acres in the name of his father Y. Janardahana Rao. Another 3.5 acres was purchased by him in the name of his brothers Y. Shiva Ramakrishna, Y. Shivalinga Prasad, and his wife Y. Susheela Kumar. Chowdary also purchased land in the name of SJK Biotech Pharma Private Limited in Chandapuram village, the statement said.
