Satyam scandal a big blot on our image: Y S Rajasekhara Reddy

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy said that the image of Andhra Pradesh as well of India had taken a "severe beating" with the financial scandal in Satyam Computer coming to light.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy on Sunday said that the image of Andhra Pradesh as well of India had taken a "severe beating" with the financial scandal in Satyam Computer coming to light. "There is no doubt that it is a big blot on our image. Now, our credibility has to be established by acting tough," Reddy said in Hyderabad on Sunday.

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Satyam Computer, he noted, had remained quite a leading industrial house in the state. "It's a fact," he said. To a query the Chief Minister said he personally felt "very, very bad" about the grave scandal in Satyam, as revealed by its former chairman Ramalinga Raju. "I was really sad. It was unimaginable," he added.

He said the government was appreciative of the way the Satyam group pioneered the Emergency Management Research Institute's services in the state, which were later expanded to other states. The common man was worried about the fate of the EMRI (108) services following the Satyam scandal but the government was determined to continue them unhindered. "The state government bears 95 per cent of the cost of EMRI services while Satyam contributes only five per cent. We held a meeting with the EMRI management soon after the Satyam scandal came to light and assured them that necessary means will be explored to run the services," Reddy said. There would not be any problem even in respect of the 104 Hospitals-on-Wheels services, he added.