Adani ‘bribery’ case: Ex-Andhra CM Jagan Reddy refutes allegations, says ’somebody should be a fool to name me...’
Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy reportedly refuted the allegations of bribery and denied involvement, stating that nobody had said that he or somebody else had taken bribes.
Former Chief Minister of Andra Pradesh YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday strongly refuted the allegations that the Adani Group paid bribes to state officials for solar power purchases during his party-led government, reported PTI on November 28.
Reddy also said that his name was not mentioned anywhere in a US court's indictment on the matter, as per the report. Earlier, after the controversy broke out over the allegations, Reddy said that he met the Adanis (Gautam Adani or any of his family members) multiple times during his tenure as the CM of Andhra Pradesh, which was “not unusual.”
“Nowhere it mentions that incentives were offered to me because there is no way anybody can offer incentives to me, first of all. And businessmen meeting heads of states is not unusual. This in fact is an ordinary practice,” Reddy told reporters.
He also said that the allegations of bribes are all hearsay, and nobody has said that he or somebody else has taken bribes.
“There was no mention of my name. Please go through whatever those people (in the US) have said. Somebody should be a fool to name me or anybody else because I never dealt with them,” he said, reported the news agency.
Reddy mentioned that the agreement was between the buyer, AP DISCOMS, and the seller Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), and there were no third parties involved.
“And where is any third party there? If somebody is so foolish and so stupid and somebody goes by hearsay and speaks some kind of nonsense and stupidity, nobody can help,” he said, reported the agency.
What was the agreement?
With the agreement with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for the power supply deal at ₹2.49 per unit, the state would be saving over ₹1 lakh crore over 25 years, the former CM was quoted as saying in the report.
According to the order of events, the former CM said the state received a letter from SECI offering 7,000 megawatts of solar power at ₹2.49 per unit, waiving the Inter-state transmission system (ISTS) charges on September 15, 2021. The agreement was signed on December 1, 2021.
He also mentioned that there were no interstate transmission charges as the power is produced within the western state itself, responding to the reports over Gujarat Discoms getting a cheaper price.
“Nobody is so insane to scrap this kind of deal,” said Reddy according to the report.
The current Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, N Chandrababu Naidu, had earlier said that the state was in possession of the “chargesheet reports” filed in the US related to the alleged bribery and also “promised” to act on the claimed irregularities.
Naidu earlier said that the allegations involving the YSRCP regime and the Adani group are a “very sad development.”
On the other hand, Reddy said that he will file a defamation case for ₹100 crore against some regional newspapers for allegedly distorting the facts and publishing stories, if they do not apologise within 48 hours, as per the agency report.
The YSRCP party last week said that the power procurement of 7,000 MW was approved by the AP Electricity Regulatory Commission in November 2021, after which the Power Sale Agreement (PSA) was signed on December 1, 2021, between SECI and AP Discoms.
Reddy also referred to CM Naidu's remarks that the state’s financial position had gone for a toss during the previous regime and said, “This is an organised, orchestrated mud-slinging activity, which is happening,” the agency reported.
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First Published:28 Nov 2024, 10:38 PM IST
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