I was not responsible for Raju's rise: Andhra CM

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajashekhara Reddy today dismissed charges that he was responsible for the rise of Satyam's tainted founder Ramalinga Raju and instead sought to put the blame on his predecessor and TDP leader N Chandrababu Naidu.

"By the time I became the Chief Minister, Raju had already risen to very high level. I am not responsible. In no way, he needed my promotion. All the promotion was already done," he told reporters.

Reddy cited the instance of Naidu ensuring Raju on the dias along with Bill Clinton when the then US President had visited Hyderabad in 2000 and "that projection must have helped". That time, Ramoji Rao, who was close to Naidu, was asked to sit in the audience as also Ratan Tata, he recalled.

Reddy, who was summoned by the Congress high command to discuss various issues, including the issue of Telengana statehood, also dismissed a suggestion that the Satyam episode would have any political fallout against Congress in coming elections.

He, however, said the Satyam issue did not figure during the talks with Gandhi.

Claiming that no one could allege any sort of irregularities in awarding of contracts to Maytas, a firm promoted by Raju's son, he said, "Government has nothing to do with the land acquisition by the firm."

Describing the Rs 7,800 crore financial fraud allegedly engineered by Raju as "mind boggling", Reddy said it has "discredited" the state and the country and every effort would be made to bring the erstwhile management of the firm to book.