YSR Reddy's government was engaged in corruption: WikiLeaks
Former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy's populist programmes might have reaped him immense political benefits, but these were beset with massive corruption, a leaked US diplomatic cable has revealed.
In a cable sent to the US government on October 22, 2007, then US consul for Chennai, David Hopper, said the YSR-led Congress government in Andhra Pradesh was engaged in corruption beyond the norm for India though the CM had spent billions of dollars on "politically popular" social programmes.
The cable, titled "Corruption plagues Andhra Pradesh's big ticket spending programmes", was exposed by WikiLeaks recently.
Ironically, YSR's son Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy is now under the CBI scanner on charges of corruption and illegal acquisition of assets.
Hopper made the observation while referring to the collapse of a flyover at Punjagutta in Hyderabad on September 9, 2007. He recalled how leader of Opposition and former chief minister N. Chandrababu Naidu had complained of rampant corruption in YSR government's infrastructure projects.
However, YSR was confident that the TDP would not be able to gain mileage from the issue. "When Naidu tried to raise it in the wake of the overpass collapse, chief minister Reddy shot back at Naidu accusing him of corruption during his tenure. The Congress appears willing to bet that people will focus on what they are getting from the programmes and ignore the corruption," the cable states.
In his observation titled "Corruption beyond the pale (even for India?)," Hopper says that YSR had used populist spending programmes, especially the massive housing and irrigation schemes, to great political advantage.
"However, there is consensus in the state that the irrigation and housing programmes are beset with corruption," he says.
"On separate visits to Hyderabad, we heard allegations of widespread graft from several neutral observers. An economist, who is studying the effectiveness of state government's programmes, said with only four to five companies executing the projects through numerous sub-contractors and little oversight, there are many opportunities for graft in the irrigation schemes," the cable states.
Hopper, quoting comments of other observers, adds: "Typically, five to seven per cent is lost to corruption, but in Reddy's irrigation programme that figure is more than 15 to 20 per cent.
"We thought Naidu was bad, but that was child's play compared with what is happening now."
In another section, the US official said widespread corruption in Andhra Pradesh seemed to be an open secret, but the political impact was unclear. "The man on the street expects corruption. In fact, corruption is inalienable and rather acceptable."
Quoting a media source, Hopper says that citizens seem to be fine with corruption so long as some of the money trickles down to them.
"As long as the Congress continues to spread the wealth, corruption actually strengthens its position in the state. The Congress is consolidating its political base by offering small contracts to the party workers and making them happy," he says.
The US official felt that many elites were disgusted by the level of corruption in the Congress government.
"The sheer size of Reddy's signature programmes, with literally billions of dollars at play every year, leaves much room for 'leakage' to Congress party officials and their allies. But the size of the programmes also means that even with a substantial percentage lost to corruption, a lot of money still must be making its way to the common man," the cable states.
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