A TDP leader, on condition of anonymity, told South First that the state government decided to continue the agreements since the state was in debt and needs Union government’s support.
Published Dec 10, 2024 | 5:02 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 10, 2024 | 5:30 PM
Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu. (X)
The TDP-led NDA government in Andhra Pradesh has decided to continue the agreements that the previous YSRCP government had signed with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) for the supply of solar energy. SECI, in turn, has signed an agreement to purchase from Adani groups.
Interestingly, when the United States Department of Justice mentioned the same agreement in its indictment of Gautam Adani, the TDP demanded accountability from YSRCP.
The TDP took former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy to cleaners following a US court allegation that Adani Group had paid bribes of ₹1,750 crore in return for purchasing solar power. TDP’s official spokesperson Anam Venkata Ramana Reddy demanded details of Jagan Mohan Reddy’s meetings with Adani in the run-up to signing the deal with SECI.
Less than a month after the incident, the TDP government led by Chandrababu Naidu wants to continue the agreements despite the alleged corruption taint.
A TDP leader, on condition of anonymity, told South First that the state government decided to continue the agreements since the state was in debt.
“Our government has decided to continue the agreements. We have inherited a financially impoverished state. It is a fact that we opposed the agreements between the previous YSRCP government and Adani in 2021. We had said that the agreements would impose a burden of thousands of crores of rupees on the people for 25 years. At present, we are neck-deep in debt. We cannot run the show without the Union government’s support. These factors have weighed heavily with the party leadership in deciding to continue the agreements,” the TDP leader said.
The US Department of Justice charged that a “high-ranking official of the state government” was offered bribes of ₹1,750 crore from Adani Group to sign a solar power supply deal in 2021. Jagan Mohan Reddy was the chief minister during this period.
The indictment also accused Adani firm and associates of offering to pay bribes up to ₹2,029 crore to different government officials in India. The indictment named Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani and nine others.
Finance Minister Payyavula Keshav, who was an Opposition MLA from Uravakonda in 2021, had also filed a petition in the Andhra Pradesh High Court, against the agreements.
Ironically, the TDP-led NDA is no longer keen on scrapping the agreements, despite previously raising a hue and cry over allegations that Jagan Mohan Reddy accepted bribes for agreeing to purchase expensive solar power.
The present government decided to purchase solar power from SECI, which is in turn procuring power from Adani group, from next year (2025-26) and issued orders to purchase 4,191 million units of power which means that Adani’s agreement with SECI still holds good.
In 2021, when the state signed the agreement with Adani, experts had warned that the price was higher than the then prevailing market price. It had been given to understand that the TDP, after steam-rolling to power in the state defeating Jagan Mohan Reddy in June this year, would scrap the agreement with Adani.
However, Chandrababu Naidu and his deputy Pawan Kalyan decided to continue the agreements after meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. Pawan Kalyan is also speaking in support of Adani.
According to highly placed sources, Chandrababu Naidu is understood to have said that if the state government cancelled the agreement, it would have to pay ₹3,000 crore in penalty.
Apart from this, measures like going back on agreements with industrialists might discourage prospective investors in the state from investing, the chief minister is understood to have commented with party leaders.
He reportedly felt that if the agreements are trashed, the investment climate, that is picking up in Andhra Pradesh now, might be affected.
(Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
