Ashok Gajapathi Raju misappropriated 500 acres

Senior Yuvajana Sramika Rythu Congress Party (YSRCP) leader and Rajya Sabha member V Vijayasai Reddy on Thursday alleged that Ashok Gajapathi Raju illegally appropriated 500 acres of land of Maharaja Alak Narayana Society of Arts and Science (MANSAS) Trust while being its chairman in 2010.

"Raju while being the chairman of MANSAS Trust in 2016 managed to procure a fake order and sold 115 acres illegally. In 2010 also, he appropriated 500 acres," alleged Reddy. He vowed that the government will investigate all these land transactions.

The Rajya Sabha MP exhorted that if any land was to be sold belonging to the Trust, it had to be done only with the permission of the Court. "Without procuring Court permission, he brought a fake GO from the government and sold away 115 acres of land illegally. What was the need to sell the 115 acres?" posed Reddy. The YSRCP leader demanded to know why Court's permission was not taken, even as he stated that the Endowments Minister has directed the concerned officials to probe these matters. According to Reddy, Raju appropriated 500 acres of land when old survey numbers were being entered into new registers in 2010.

"I want to say one thing. When you call someone a king, he is a person who rules over people. What will people expect from him? Good quality, good character, his generosity and the sharing quality of his possessions to people but this king (Raju) has the quality of how to eat people's money and loot MANSAS money," he claimed.

On Wednesday, Reddy spoke at a press conference in the port city of Visakhapatnam, aimed at protecting endowments lands and temples' development. He said officials have been instructed to make sure that not even one acre of endowment land gets encroached upon. Raju is a senior leader of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP). The Andhra Pradesh High Court recently reinstated him as the chairman of MANSAS Trust.