Botcha turns senti

HYDERABAD: APCC president Botcha Satyanarayana Wednesday turned emotional while recalling the low point of his political career, the Volkswagen scam of 2005.Satyanarayana was the major industries minister in the Y S Rajasekhara Reddy cabinet when the scam took place. The government paid out Rs 11.67 crore to a dubious front company, Vashishta Vahan, set up by the India representative of German auto maker Volkswagen with the promise of persuading the company to set up a car manufacturing unit in AP.The India representative fled with the money paid into a cutout account.As a fallout of the scam, Satyanarayana lost the industries portfolio and the government ordered a probe by the CBI, which ultimately exonerated him.Recalling the scam at a meet-the-press programme organised by APUWJ Wednesday, Satyanarayana turned emotional. He said his mother heard about the allegations on TV. “When I was asked to respond to the allegations, I said it was my karma. My mother heard my comments on TV and called me to say one should not use such words as karma. She said life itself is karma,” he recalled.