Deccan Chronicle

TRS MLA accused of murky land dealings

Congressma­n bought accused’s land: TRS MLA

- S.A. ISHAQUI | DC

The killing of Abdullapur­met tahsildar, Ms K. Vijaya Reddy, has unwittingl­y led to the coming out of murky land deals of political leaders, especially those belonging to the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS).

Manchiredd­y Kishan Reddy, the TRS MLA of Ibrahimpat­nam constituen­cy, has been collecting an amount of `30 lakh each from farmers of Bacharam village to settle their dispute and mutate their lands in revenue records, alleged Malreddy Ranga Reddy, a former Congress MLA.

According to the farmers of Bacharam, about 412 acres of their village land that comes under survey numbers 90 to 101 have been in dispute between tenant farmers and landholder­s, and a fight over its ownership rights has been going on since four decades.

The ruling party MLA, Manchiredd­y Kishan Reddy, also himself acknowledg­es this version of villagers, and urged Chief Minister K. Chandra-sekhar Rao to order a probe into land dealings into this stretch of 412 acres. But he counter-alleges that former MLA Malreddy Ranga Reddy and his brother Malreddy Ramreddy are involved in murky deals in this scam. He even alleged that the former Congress MLA was behind the killing of Ms. Vijaya Reddy.

He said that the family members of the former MLA have purchased lands from K. Krishnaiah, the father of K. Suresh, the accused in killing of the Tahasildar, and K Durgaiah, elder brother of Krishnaiah.

Manchiredd­y Kishan Reddy alleged that these land transactio­ns were done by Malreddy Ranga Reddy in the names of Malreddy Divya and Malreddy Kavya. Manchiredd­y also alleged Malreddy’s family members registered lands from 11 farmers though they don’t have pattadar passbooks.

Alleging that Malreddy had occupied 14 acres in survey no. 4, Manchiredd­y claimed that the former MLA, who suffered defeat at his hands thrice, was making wild allegation­s against him for political reasons.

Malreddy Kishan Reddy, however, admitted that around 60 victims of Bacharam lands had approached him, “seeking his support to resolve the land dispute.”

He claimed that only then he represente­d the matter to the joint collector of Ranga Reddy district.

The Congress and other opposition parties, meanwhile, have alleged that Manchiredd­y, as a ruling party MLA, was behind all land deals in Gourelli and Bacharam villages, and even showed pictures going viral on social media, which showed that Suresh, the accused in Vijaya Reddy’s murder, was also a worker of the ruling TRS.

While the politician­s continue their blame game, the entire case has caused severe mental agony to farmers who have been fighting for their rights over lands in Bacharam and Gourelli villages under the Abdullapur­met mandal since decades. And they see no end to the plight in sight.

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