Hyderabad, Aug 10: Union minister of state for home Ch Vidyasagar Rao, currently under attack for his alleged role in the petrol pumps scam, today firmly denied his involvement in the allotment of dealerships and asserted that he was ready to "go to people to prove his innocence". "I was never involved directly or indirectly or influenced anyone to get allotments. There is no petrol pump in any of my family members' name," he told reporters here. Rao, whose name has been prominently appearing in a section of media ever since the scam broke out, said that he was "pained over repeated and unsubstantiated stories linking him to the scam.”
"Despite my rejoinders in the past that none of the beneficiaries mentioned in the reports is my relative, the same stories are being repeated. This tantamounts to character assassination and maligns my impeccable image built over three decades,” the minister said.
Reading out the names of the allottees, mentioned in a newspaper report as being his kith and kin, the minister asserted that none of them was related to him and appealed to the media not to 'repeat such false documents'.
"When my daughter called me up and asked why such a false list was published, I had no answer. You can understand what I have gone through as a sensitive human being," Rao said.

Bureau Report