The BJP has alleged that the sale of 83 acres belonging to the Sadavarti Satram of Sri Amaralingeswara Swamy temple (at Amaravati in Guntur district) situated between Chennai and Madurai in Tamil Nadu is illegal as they could not be sold as per inscriptions found there. But the Chief Minister’s Office itself cleared the decks for auctioning the said lands.
Addressing mediapersons here on Wednesday, BJP city president D. Umamaheswara Raju said 4000 acres had been donated to the choultry, which is situated nearly 200 metres from the historic temple, by Raja Vasireddy Venkatadri Naidu’s daughter-in-law Chirumamilla Venkata Lakshmi Narasamma.
The lands were not to be sold by any means as the donors had wished and they even got it etched in stone. The choultry was taken over by the Endowments Department about 15 years ago.
The BJP leader said of the 4000 acres, 473 acres were situated near Chennai and except 100 acres, the rest was encroached. The A.P. CMO had recently issued orders for auctioning 83 acres and the sale fetched Rs.22 lakh per acre against the government rate of Rs.50 lakh.
Mr. Umamaheswara Raju alleged that a TDP MLA from Guntur district and an Endowments Department official were behind the sale and they had the backing of some senior TDP leaders.
Meanwhile, a delegation of senior Congress leaders led by their State president N. Raghuveera Reddy submitted a memorandum to the Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan in Hyderabad seeking cancellation of the auction. Mr. Raghuveera Reddy said a party committee led by MLC C. Ramachandraiah visited Thalambur village where the choultry lands exist, and found that the land had been encroached and put for auction as per a pre-planned conspiracy. The A.P. government involved a ruling party MLA in the transaction and basically it did not issue any G.O. that should be in conformity with a Cabinet decision to sell the lands. The auction should be conducted at the choultry office in Amaravati and not in a secretive manner in Tamil Nadu, which amounted to blatant violation of norms, Mr. Raghuveera Reddy added.
