By Express News Service

GUNTUR/VIJAYAWADA : Former Assembly Speaker and TDP leader Kodela Siva Prasad Rao admitted that he had shifted some furniture and equipment from the Speaker’s Chambers in AP Legislative Assembly to his camp office in Sattenapalli and Guntur for personal use. Addressing media persons in Narasaraopet on Tuesday, Kodela said while shifting the Assembly from Hyderabad, some furniture and equipment, including computers, were taken to his camp office, for reasons of security and maintenance.

“Following complaints, allegations and cases after elections, I had written to the Assembly secretary asking him to take away the furniture. Later, I had received a letter from the Assembly secretary seeking the details of the furniture and equipment being used by me. In the two letters, I expressed my readiness to pay the cost incurred on them,” he said.

Misuse of office not new to Kodela: YSRC MLA

Meanwhile, YSRC Narasaraopet MLA Gopireddy Srinivas Reddy took serious exception to misuse of office by Kodela. “Should the furniture of the Assembly be shifted from Hyderabad to the new Assembly building or to Kodela’s house? It clearly shows who he misused his office,” he observed while speaking to media persons in Vijayawada.

Gopireddy said it was not the first time Kodela resorted to such abuse of office. “He even sold Anna canteen food meant for the poor. His family-owned Safe Pharmaceutical deducted `30 each from the salaries of the staff for meals provided to them from Anna canteens,” he alleged. He alleged that Kodela was once caught selling the food procured for cyclone victims. “Such a person was made Speaker of Assembly for five years,” the YSRC MLA said.

“Though he was in a responsible position of safeguarding the public property, including that of Assembly, he used them for his own purpose. If he is really need of help, we are ready to collect donations and fulfil all his needs, but he should never resort to misuse of public property,” he advised the former speaker.

The YSRC legislator said that Kodela had written the letter to the Assembly secretary only a couple of days ago, after his son’s Hero Honda showroom was sealed by police for non-payment of taxes for nearly 1,000 bikes. “Kodela says he had the furniture moved to his house for safekeeping. It is like a thief saying that he robbed the bank to keep the money in safe custody,” the MLA quipped. Shortly, the details of all those who were involved in the incident would be made public.