Andhra minister wants MPs guilty of graft punished

Dubai: "The guilty must be punished no matter what party they belong to," said Mohammad Ali Shabber, Andhra Pradesh Information Minister, referring to the two recent sting operations on lawmakers that have rattled the nation.

In a pointed reference to the misuse of the MPLAD (Member of Parliament Local Area Development) funds, the minister said, "It is unfortunate that lawmakers are siphoning off the money intended for development of their constituencies."

India's television channels telecast the tapes of the operations that showed several MPs of different political parties demanding or taking bribes to sanction money from their MPLAD funds and to raise questions in parliament.

The minister, who also holds the portfolios of public relations and energy in Andhra Pradesh, is in Dubai as part of an NRI Study Group to interact with a cross-section of workers from the south Indian state.

He said people have the greatest weapon vote in their hand and they can teach the tainted politicians a lesson at the hustings. But he is not sympathetic to scrapping of the MPLAD funds following the Star News exposé. "We should instead ensure that government funds are not misused. It's [stopping the funds] like demanding the police department shut just because there are some corrupt police officials," he said, adding "accountability has to be streamlined".

At a gathering organised on Wednesday by Rasa-mayi, a socio-cultural group in Dubai, Ali Shabber said the NRI Study Group, comprising expats from the US, Saudi Arabia and officials from the state, has been on a tour to interact with overseas workers from Andhra to look into their problems.

Several people from the Telugu-speaking community aired their grievances such as the problems they face at the airport at the hands of immigration, customs and police officials from the moment they land in Hyderabad.

The following day the minister met labourers from the state at Rolla Park in Sharjah and a mix of white- and blue-collared workers orgainsed by Telugu Sravanthi at Indian Association Sharjah.

There were several sob stories. Some of them had been duped by unscrupulous job agents and visa racketeers and rendered jobless and penniless and without passport or any proof of identity. They requested to be sent back home. Others sobbed that they were not being paid for months together.

The minister said he would submit his report to Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy before the January 7-9 Pravasi Bharatiya Divas or NRI day. He assured the gathering that a representative from the UAE would be appointed to the NRI Cell to be constituted soon.