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Published Dec 20, 2024 | 8:00 AM ⚊ Updated Dec 20, 2024 | 8:00 AM
Adani deal: ‘Official sources’ in AP burst at seams with info
After the United States Securities and Exchange Commission alleged that tycoon Gautam Adani met then Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy in August 2021 to seal a solar power purchase deal with offers of bribes, officials in Andhra Pradesh have been eager to share information with reporters.
The US market regulator filed an indictment in the court of the Eastern District of New York, stating that Adani and seven top executives of the Adani group had attempted to hide the payment of bribes from investors. The five-count indictment was unsealed in the US court in November 2024.
Members of the ruling Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh are eager to have more information in the public domain about the Adani-YS Jagan Mohan Reddy “corruption pact.”
The US market regulator’s indictment in court claims that Gautam Adani either paid or promised to bribe government officials in Andhra Pradesh to “enter into power supply agreements with SECI (Solar Energy Corporation of India) for the purchase of 7,000 MW of power capacity.”
Adani is alleged to have paid/promised over ₹2,000 crore in bribes, in deals with a few states.
Members of the Telugu Desam Party are on the horns of a dilemma – there is information that could damage the political prospects of their main rival in the state, and yet they are bound to remain tight-lipped because of the “closeness” of Adani to the top leadership of the BJP, their political ally.
Legions of the yellow party would have been out in the streets by now, some analysts say, if it were not for the fact that Adani remains the favourite industrialist of saffron leaders.
Even so, such silence is pregnant. The TDP cannot expect a greater opportunity to arraign Jagan Mohan Reddy.
To go after the former chief minister is also to drag the name of Adani into the spotlight, and that is the strange dilemma that TDP leaders now face.
Officials are obviously under a great deal of stress, and very cagey about revealing details of the power purchase agreement Adani and Jagan signed.
If they speak about it, BJP top brass is bound to take offence — Chandrababu Naidu might like the details to spill out, but who can peek into the chief minister’s heart?
The public posturing of the chief minister remains non-committal; he has only stated that his government is studying the indictment order in the US court.
Officials know better than to leak information indiscriminately – they realise they are expendable when the political heat rises.
Even so, there are officials who speak in hushed voices, offering hints and refusing to be identified as the source of information.
They say they had forewarned the former chief minister. They realised the price was too high, and that solar power was becoming competitive; the state was bound to get power at a lesser price.
There are officials who say Jagan Mohan Reddy did not heed their advice.
With much information dammed up and unable to flow, it is only a matter of time before something gives.
