'BJP not opposed to Jaganmohan's arrest'

After its national leaders' statements on Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy's arrest apparently sent wrong signals, Andhra Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party president G Kishan Reddy on Tuesday said his party did not oppose the arrest.

"BJP does not oppose Jagan's arrest. We are of the view that Jagan is a beneficiary of the misuse of public office by various Congress ministers and politicians.

A logical conclusion to this disproportionate assets case is only possible if CBI shows the same enthusiasm in investigating the role of all Congress leaders concerned, Cabinet ministers in the YSR regime and the role of Congress central leadership," the state BJP chief wrote on his Facebook page.

"Arresting Jagan is not sufficient. We want the CBI to investigate the role of Congress ministers who have helped

Jagan make huge amounts of illegal money. We also want the CBI to investigate how much illegal money was given as election fund to Sonia Gandhi by late YS Rajasekhara Reddy when he was the CM," Kishan Reddy added.

Now that it arrested Jagan, would the CBI show the same interest and seriousness in probing cases against Vilasrao Deshmukh, Ashok Chavan, Kripashankar Singh, Sheila Dixit, Botsa Satyanarayana and other Congress leaders, he questioned.

In a separate statement issued to media (via Facebook), Kishan said corruption was an issue that has to be fought relentlessly and law should takes its course against those who indulged in corruption.

The BJP maintained the same stand even with regard to its own leaders like former Chief Minister of Karnataka B S Yeddyurappa.

"It is the general belief that YSR, when he was the state chief minister, gave huge funds to the Congress' central leadership and also funded elections in various states. Having benefited monetarily, can the Congress be isolated from these cases of corruption," the AP BJP chief questioned.

Earlier, BJP's central leaders like Rajiv Pratap Rudy questioned the manner in which the Kadapa MP was arrested by the CBI in the disproportionate assets case and accused the Congress of misusing the central investigating agency to selectively target its political rivals.

This left an impression that the BJP's national leadership was supporting Jagan even as the state leaders welcomed the arrest.

Rudy had also ruled out any possibility of an alliance with YSR Congress saying the question does not arise and the issue is "inconsequential".

BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman emphasised that even now the action taken against Jagan has been due to the court's intervention.

"26 contentious orders have been passed in the matter. What was the government doing when these Government Orders (GOs) were being taken?" she said.

The "cover-up of big-ticket corruption, to brush it under the carpet" still continues in Andhra Pradesh where the six ministers facing charges similar to those slapped against Jaganmohan have been left untouched, she said.

"We charge and we suspect that a lot of cover-up is happening. The Congress leadership was probably aware of many things which were happening between 2004-09 but they did not correct course," Sitharaman said.

She maintained that this corruption still continues though two chief ministers have been changed by the Congress since then.

BJP insisted that CBI is being misused by the government in all such cases of corruption.