"I did not allot the land on my own.... It was done in accordance with the Cabinet decision," Dharmana said before rushing to New Delhi this evening as Opposition demanded that he be sacked after his name figured in charge sheet as part of the investigations into the disproportionate assets case against Kadapa MP Y S Jaganmohan Reddy.
The Roads and Buildings Minister said he was "surprised" by the CBI charge sheet.
"I can give a detailed clarification only after reading the contents of the charge-sheet," the minister said.
Dharmana, who was the Minister for Revenue under Y S Rajasekhara Reddy, has been named as accused no 5 in the CBI charge sheet filed in the special court here today.
Dharmana had been questioned a couple of times in the case but not arrested while his erstwhile Cabinet colleague Mopidevi Venkata Ramana, who held the infrastructure and investment portfolio, was arrested and lodged in jail in the same case.
With the opposition parties raising pitch for the dismissal of Dharmana from the Cabinet following the charge-sheet, the minister rushed to New Delhi to meet leaders of Congress high command in an ostensible bid to save his skin.
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"Dharmana should not only be dismissed from the Cabinet but also should be arrested immediately.
"The CBI clearly established his complicity in the case," TDP leaders K Yerran Naidu, Dadi Veerabhadra Rao and Yanamala Ramakrishnudu demanded.
"The minister cannot get away by claiming that he only implemented the Cabinet decisions," the TDP leaders said separately.
The TDP would petition the Governor against Dharmana.
CPM politburo member and state secretary B V Raghavulu also demanded the dismissal of Dharmana.
"If ministers like Dharmana are to be continued, the entire Cabinet should be made an accused in the case," Raghavulu said.