It’s a match! Hyderabad based Yashoda Hospital donated ₹94 crore to BRS, ₹64 crore to Congress via electoral bond

Also read: Full details of electoral bonds, including unique bond numbers

BRS gains big from Yashoda Hospital

Yashoda Hospital made significant contributions to BRS with electoral bonds worth ₹94 crore. Additionally, it donated ₹64 crore to Indian National Congress. Smaller amount of ₹2 crore was donated to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Yashoda hospital donated ₹1 crore each to  Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP).

Owners of the Hyderabad-based hospital, including Chairman G Ravender Rao, Managing Director Dr G Surender Rao, and another Director G Devender Rao, individually purchased electoral bonds worth ₹1 crore each. All of the ₹3 crore was donated it to BRS.

On October 4, 2021, Yashoda Hospital purchased electoral bonds worth ₹10 crore. These bonds were encashed by Congress party, as a match of the unique alphanumeric suggests. On October 7, 2021, bonds worth ₹5 crore for BRS and ₹2 crore for BJP were acquired.

The largest transaction occurred on April 4, 2022, where bonds worth ₹50 crore were purchased by the hospital. This whole purchase went to BRS as donations. Similarly, on April 6, 2022, Yashoda Hospital acquired bonds worth ₹30 crore and yet again donated it to BRS.

November 15, 2022, bonds worth ₹4 crore were purchased and donated to Congress.

In an interesting turn of events, on December 7, 2022, bonds worth ₹5 crore were purchased. Of these bonds, ₹3 crores went to Congress, ₹1 crore each went to AAP, and Jagan Mohan Reddy’s YSRCP.

Yashoda hospital, on April 6, 2023, bought bonds worth ₹6 crore, all of which were donated to Congress. Subsequently, on April 11, 2023, bonds worth ₹4 crore were purchased and donated to BRS.

On October 4, 2023, the ninth time Yashoda hospital bought electoral bonds between October 2021 and October 2023, donation of ₹10 crore was split evenly between the BRS and Congress. On October 5, 2023, bonds worth ₹10 crore were acquired solely for Congress. Again on October 6, 2023, bonds worth ₹20 crore were purchased to donate to Congress. In its final tranche on October 11, 2023, bonds worth ₹6 crore were purchased for Congress.

It may be noted that the last few purchases of electoral bonds, that were donated to Congress, came right before the Telangana assembly elections.

Also read: BJP made big bucks from electoral bonds, BRS too

The previous purchases

In December 2020, Yashoda Hospitals, based in Hyderabad, was raided by Income Tax department officials.

Later, Yashoda Hospitals figured in the list of donors who contributed directly to BJP between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022. The BJP officially submitted the list to the Election Commission in November 2022.

It may be noted that these donations were directly made to party funds. The Election Commission of India mandates that political parties submit details of such donations from time to time. These are not donations made via electoral bonds.

Yashoda Hospitals, with the address given as Raj Bhavan Road, Somajiguda, Hyderabad, figures against serial numbers 424 to 431 and again from 433 and 436 of donations to BJP between 1 April 2021 and 31 March 2022. Each of the ten transactions was valued ₹1 crore.

On 14 March when names of electoral bond donors were revealed, there was confusion on whether the ‘Yashoda super speciality hospital’ mentioned in the SBI’s database was the one in Hyderabad or another hospital with a similar name in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh.

However, on 15 March, the Ghaziabad hospital, through its official X handle, said: “Similar names lead to misinformation, which is why we must clarify that Yashoda Super Speciality Hospital, Kaushambi, has never indulged in any kind of political donations to any party.”

Any unfounded allegations or attempts to defame this esteemed institute for making donations to political parties via electoral bonds will be met with strict judicial actions. We request everyone to verify the facts.

— Yashoda Super Speciality Hospitals (@hospitalyashoda) March 15, 2024

On the contrary, despite several newspapers naming Hyderabad-based Yashoda Hospitals, Hyderabad, as the donor, the hospital management has not issued any official denial.

All that the hospital PRO circulated to the media, via WhatsApp, was an unsigned message: “Unfortunately, our hospital’s name was wrongly published in certain media. Request you to please check once again. There is another Yashoda Super Speciality at Ghaziabad (UP border) near Delhi. Often, many confuse it with ours.”

Established in the 1990s, the Yashoda group runs four hospitals at different locations in Hyderabad with an estimated capacity of 4,000 beds. The group was considered close to BRS government led by K Chandrashekar Rao. Speculations of Yashoda hospital receiving undue favours during BRS’ 10-year rule in Telangana have made the rounds in the past.

Highly placed sources confirmed to South First that the entity shown in the ECI list is indeed the Hyderabad-based Yashoda Hospital. The pattern of donations via electoral bonds prove the claim.

Also read: Top 10 donors via electoral bonds