Vijayawada Commissioner Goutam Sawang remarks appear to have strengthened the hands of Opposition YSRC, which found a great opportunity in Call Money racket, to be among people again, after it jettisoned the Special Status to AP issue. Jagan’s special status campaign entered a blind alley after his indefinite fast. Goutam Sawang, in an informal chat with media in Assembly premises, said Call Money racket was a bit severe in Vijayawada compared to the other parts of the state. He also made a distinction between Call Money Cum Sex Racket ( CMCSR) and simple Call Money business, where only exorbitant interest is levied.
” The Call Money harassment is severe in East and West Godavari districts, after Vijayawada,” he said. The commissioner also said the Vijayawada police had received 200 complaints with regard to the Call Money, Sexual harassment and other threats. In Vijayawada, the epicenter of CMCSR, City police arrested as many as 80 persons and seized hundreds of documents. This is exactly what worries CM Naidu. Vijayawada has already earned the moniker of crime capital of Andhra Pradesh because of fatal mix of politics and crime. Thought this is the salient feature of majority capitals across globe, given its reputation, this Vijayawada has the potential to make Amaravati a frightening place. Naidu admitted in the collectors conference a couple of days ago that CMCSR was set to destroy the image of new capital.
This ‘fear of Vijayawada’ and ‘fear for Vijaywada’ triggered a race of on one-upmanship in state politics. While Opposition leader Jaganmohan Reddy is attempting to nail Naidu by the charge that Call Money Cum Sex Racket ( CMCSR) business is concentrated only in the temporary capital of Vijayawada and surrounding districts and is abetted by none other than Naidu himself.
According to Jagan, many of the politicians involved in the call money racket are from Telugu Desam party. Since the CM cannot act against them as there are too many into the business, the state government is searching for similar crimes in the other parts of the states so that it could save Vijayawada from being labeled as lone epicenter of politically backed CMCSR. Since some of Vijayawada CMCSR patrons are very trusted cheerleaders of TDP, the CM is planning to dilute whole issue, Jagan alleges. Jagan says this money-lending turned into the sex racket because of political connections. According to Jagan all these TDP leaders, who are fully engaged the CMSCR, have been emboldened by their proximity to the ruling party boss and his son.
As Vijayawada is the capital now, the ruling party (for any party) needs people like these MLAs and MLCs, who wield enormous influence on the local poor, as its army. Politics and Mafia are two sides of the same coin in most of the capitals.If demonstrating Vijayawada as capital of CMCSR, and Naidu as its chief patron is Jagan’ game, chief minister Naidu’s plan is to show that CMCSR is ubiquitous and no party is free from politicians with CMCSR taint. With this view in the mind, Information minister Palle Raghunatha Reddy has been shouting for the past two days that YSRC people outnumbered politicians from other parties, among those booked by police in Call Money cases. The feeble voice of Reddy has got drowned in the Assembly din.
The drama has just unfolded in the Assembly and it has four more days to go. Let’s keep our fingers crossed.
