The state cabinet had adopted a resolution on November 23 rejecting the CBI's request for prosecution of Roads and Buildings Minister Dharmana, who was named as accused number five and charge-sheeted in the Vanpic Port land scandal.
However, the Governor is said to have rejected the Cabinet's resolution a couple of days ago and returned the file to the Chief Minister's Office suggesting that the government obtain fresh legal opinion in line with various Supreme Court judgments on similar matters.
"The Governor, in a way, made it clear that the Cabinet had no jurisdiction over such matters. He has virtually cleared the way for prosecution of the chargesheeted minister by rejecting the cabinet decision," highly-placed government sources said.
On the other hand, the court issued a show cause notice to Dharmana yesterday, based on a CBI memo to the special court contending that the government's permission is not required to prosecute the minister under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The fresh developments have triggered alarm bells for four other ministers -- Kanna Laskhminarayana, Ponnala Lakshmaiah, J Geeta Reddy and P Sabita Reddy -- who also face corruption charges for acts they committed during their previous stints in the then Y S Rajasekhara Reddy cabinet.
These charges relate to the disproportionate assets case against Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy as well as the illegal iron ore mining case against former Karnataka Minister Gali Janardhan Reddy. (MORE)
