Amaravati, Sep 1 (IANS): The YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) has dared Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president N. Chandrababu Naidu to open his mouth on the Income Tax department’s show-cause notice, asking him why an amount of Rs 118 crore, allegedly received by him as kickbacks from some infrastructure companies, should not be treated as ‘undisclosed income’ and be processed as per law.

YSRCP leader and former minister Perni Venkatramaiah (Nani) on Friday said that if the former chief minister is honest he should break his silence on the IT notice.

He wanted Naidu to respond if the IT department has issued notice to him as reported by a newspaper. “Chandrababu should tell people whether he took money in the name of the state capital or not,” he said.

“If you are honest, open your mouth. Is it true that income tax has given you a notice for taking a bribe of Rs.118 crores from two companies through your personal secretary,” Nani asked

Perni Nani remarked that only Rs.118 crore have been found and the money Naidu siphoned off without anyone coming to know of may be huge.

The notice was reportedly issued on August 4 by the Central Circle after rejecting Naidu’s objections that the tax proceedings against him could not have been initiated by the Central Circle before the jurisdictional assessing officer undertook the exercise of reassessment of his income for the impugned financial years.

The department was trailing kickbacks allegedly received by the TDP president from infra companies Shapoorji Pallonji and L&T which were contractors of the Amaravati capital city project

The I-T investigation against Naidu stems from searches carried out at the premises of Manoj Vasudev Pardasany who was taking part in the tendering process in Andhra Pradesh since December 2017 on behalf of Shapoorji Pallonji & Co. Pvt Ltd (SPCL), and at the premises of Pardasany’s associates in November 2019.

The report about the IT notice surfaced at a time when Naidu is making efforts to revive alliance with the BJP ahead of next year’s Assembly and Lok Sabha elections.

Nani alleged that Naidu has the habit of using others for his own interests. He claimed that the TDP chief was again making desperate attempts to join hands with the BJP.