Hyderabad, Feb 5: TDP senior leader Yanamala Rama Krishnudu has said that the YSR Congress president Y S Jaganmohan Reddy was the “big fish” the IAS officials had alleged to have swallowed public funds on a massive scale.

Talking to the media here on Sunday, Yanamala alleged that the IAS officials were questioning the justice in leaving the “big fish” and making the small fry the scapegoats. He said that no further evidence was needed to say that there was large scale corruption during the rule of late Y S Rajasekhara Reddy. He asserted that YSR’s son Jaganmohan Reddy was the big fish the IAS officers had mentioned.

The former Finance Minister and Speaker alleged that because of the standout between the ministers and the IAS officials, the administration in the State had come to a standstill. Claiming that there was absolutely no corruption during the TDP regime, he said that the IAS officers had worked honestly then. He also pointed that none of the officials were entangled in any scam prior to 2004.

Referring to the statement of Congress MP Undavalli Arun Kumar that no minister was involved in corruption, Rama Krishnudu questioned who he was to give such a testimony to the ministers. He said that it was not right to escape, by making the officials the fall-guys. He said that the cabinet was also as much responsible for corruption as the IAS officials.

Stating that there was never this scale of corruption during the past 40 years, Rama Krishnudu pointed that this was the first time that senior officials were arrested. Referring to the request of IAS officers to the Chief Minister to catch the big fish, Rama Krishnudu said this amounted to the bureaucrats admitting their own corruption and that they were small fish. He said this was the first time that such large scale corruption charges were leveled against political leaders.