Eatala Rajender most corrupt politician: Entrepreneur

Karimnagar: Several skeletons have started tumbling out of BJP leader Eatala Rajender’s cupboard, the latest being serious allegations of favouritism and corruption by a woman entrepreneur from Hyderabad. Kanna Shivakumari, who owns Vijayalaxmi Agro Processing Industries, alleged that Rajender indulged in favouritism and corruption when he was Minister for Civil Supplies. “Rajender is the most […]

Karimnagar: Several skeletons have started tumbling out of BJP leader Eatala Rajender’s cupboard, the latest being serious allegations of favouritism and corruption by a woman entrepreneur from Hyderabad.

Kanna Shivakumari, who owns Vijayalaxmi Agro Processing Industries, alleged that Rajender indulged in favouritism and corruption when he was Minister for Civil Supplies. “Rajender is the most corrupt politician. He used to favour a few businessmen after taking commissions from them during his tenure as Civil Supplies Minister,” Shivakumari, a resident of Amberpet in Hyderabad, told the media in Huzurabad on Monday.

Stating that she would be lodging a written complaint with the Director General of Police in the next couple of days against Rajender, she urged the State government to probe into irregularities that took place in the Civil Supplies Department and take action against the guilty.

Shivakumari said she had bagged the tender to supply toor dal to fair price shops in the State in August 2014, and that she deposited Rs 1.97 crore with the department. She also spent another Rs 2 crore to bring toor dal from Andhra Pradesh. On September 13, 2014, the department issued an order asking her to supply 1,000 tonnes of toor dal immediately.

“The then Minister Rajender prevented me from supplying toor dal since I refused to pay him commission,” she said, adding that despite facing various hardships, she managed to supply 100 tonnes of toor dal to Rangareddy, Khammam and Adilabad districts from September 30 to October 5, 2014.

The entrepreneur said she also sent another 100 tonnes of the dal to other districts, but the officials, under instructions from Rajender, returned it under the pretext of poor quality.

“Rajender started harassing me by issuing show cause notice on September 24 stating that there was delay in supply. Though I gave written assurance to check the delay, he placed the Rs 1.97 crore I paid as deposit amount in blacklist which meant I forfeited it,” she said, adding that though she made several rounds around the Civil Supplies Department to get back the amount, the Minister did not respond to her request. “The Rs 1.97 crore is still with the department due to the autocratic decision of Rajender,” Shivakumari said.

She broke down as she narrated how she had to sell two of her houses at Rs 2 crore to clear some debts.

“The Civil Supplies Department invited fresh tenders on September 22, 2014. Two companies bagged the tenders to supply toor dal and though there was delay on their part in supplying the dal, no action was taken by the then Minister,” she said.

When she lodged a complaint with Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao about the irregularities on February 25, 2015, CV Anand, who was brought in as Commissioner of Civil Supplies, suspended supply of toor dal in the entire State pending inquiry, she said.

She pointed out that Rajender, who blacklisted Vasavi Dal Mill Company for supplying poor quality dal, however, released the deposit amount of Rs 4 lakh within 60 days, imposing just Rs 17 lakh fine. On November 27, 2014, she lodged a complaint with Vigilance Commissioner Amith Garg too, she added.

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