Hyderabad: After directing the tainted Panchayatraj Minister P Srinivas Reddy to quit in the wake of a multi-crore "stationary scam", Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on September 7 asserted his government was determined to "clean-up the system" with zero-tolerance towards corruption.

"He (Reddy) has resigned owning moral responsibility for the irregularities. We will not tolerate corruption at any level and are determined to deal with it firmly," Naidu told reporters at Karimnagar town after participating in local programmes.

As the muddle, involving purchase of excess stationary material in Panchayatraj department at exorbitant prices without following procedures, triggered a political furore causing embarrassment to ruling Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Naidu had asked the Minister to resign on September 6.

Soon after, heads started rolling in the department with government moving in swiftly to suspend five senior officials including a superintending engineer K Rama Rao whose properties were raided by sleuths of Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).

Asked about criticism that Reddy was swiftly removed from Cabinet because he hailed from backward Telangana region while no action was being taken against political heavyweights from other regions, Naidu said that it was unfortunate that a section of the media was "twisting the issue by unnecessarily bringing in regional sentiments".

PTI