Andhra minister resigns after CBI names him in charge sheet

A senior cabinet minister in Andhra Pradesh resigned Tuesday night, a day after the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) named him in its fourth charge sheet in the illegal assets case against YSR Congress Party leader Y.S. Jaganmohan Reddy.Roads and Buildings Minister Dharmana Prasada Rao submitted his resignation to Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy.He

told reporters that he did not wrong but submitted his resignation as the CBI filed charges against him. He said the image of the Congress party was more important for him than his personal image.Dharmana

Rao met the chief minister hours after returning from Delhi, where he called on senior Congress leaders including party general secretary in charge of the state Ghulam Nabi Azad.The CBI on Monday had filed

the charge sheet against 14 accused including Dharmana and senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers.Dharmana is the fifth accused in the charge sheet, which also named former minister Mopidevi Venkataramna as the fourth accused.The

charge sheet relates to the alleged irregularities in the allotment of land and other concessions to Vadrevu and Nizampatnam Ports & Industrial Corridor (VANPIC) project in Prakasam and Guntur districts.Dharmana

was revenue minister in the cabinet of then chief minister Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy and alleged to have favoured VANPIC in land allotment.Mopidevi

is already in jail along with Jaganmohan Reddy, industrialist Nimmagadda Prasad and former special secretary K.V. Brahmananda Reddy.