Will act on 'irregularities': Andhra Pradesh CM on Adani Group case

Congress demands JPC probe; BJP says DMK, BJD, YSRCP are 'close to Cong'

The political contestation over the US authorities charging billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani and his seven associates with defrauding American investors and paying bribes to government officials in India continued on Friday.

 

The Congress’ state units held press conferences in their respective state capitals, demanding a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe on the issue. Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said his party would raise the issue in Parliament.

 

“As he (Adani) is in India, action should be taken against him, he should be arrested,” he said.

"If he (Adani) does things in a legal manner, we have no objection. The government land is being taken, and based on those assets, loans worth thousands of crore are offered by government banks. As he is doing all these things, we feel the government is fully protecting and helping him, and through him, they (BJP) are obtaining help or benefits for their party," Kharge said.

 

 

The Adani group termed the charges “baseless” on Thursday said the conglomerate complied with laws.

 

Some other parties, who until recently ran state governments such as the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) in Odisha and YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) in Andhra Pradesh, rejected the charge that government officials received bribes from the Adani group during their governments.

 

The YSRCP and BJD asserted that their governments signed the power purchase agreement with the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), a public sector undertaking, and not with the Adani group.

 

The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) of Tamil Nadu said the “corruption” in the state started when former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa signed a power purchase agreement with the Adani group directly. Tamil Nadu power minister Senthil Balaji said the Tamil Nadu Electricity Department had never signed any agreement with the Adani group.

 

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, whose Telugu Desam Party (TDP) is an ally of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), broke his silence on the issue on Friday. Naidu said the state government was in possession of the "charge sheet reports" filed in the US related to the alleged bribery scam involving the previous YSRCP government and the Adani group, and “promised” to act on the irregularities.

 

Addressing the Assembly, Naidu said his government will study the charges and act on them. He said the charges have hurt the prestige and brand image of Andhra, and termed it a "very sad development".

 

YSRCP leader and former minister Perni Nani accused the media of indulging in “negative propaganda” against the party leader and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

 

“If Adani and Chandrababu meet, it would be shown as a corporate event, but when it comes to Reddy, some people are attributing motives to it,” he said. The former minister said Reddy inked a power purchase agreement with SECI at a cheaper rate than the TDP government.

 

Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president YS Sharmila on Friday accused her brother and former chief minister Jagan Reddy of giving the state as a "blank cheque" to the Adani group and turning it into "Adani Pradesh".

 

The BJD said the charge that state government officials took bribes from the Adani group for supplying renewable energy to the state from the central pool were "false and not based on fact”.

 

"The Government of Odisha has nothing to do with the agreement. Whatever agreement was done that remained confined among Gridco, the distribution company and the SECI, a central PSU,” said former Odisha energy minister and BJD MLA PK Deb.

 

In a post on X, Andhra Pradesh BJP president D Purandeswari, who is chief minister Naidu’s sister-in-law, said the allegations emanating from the US against the Adani group raise serious questions and claimed that all those linked to the allegations were associated with the Congress party. She alleged that the DMK, BJD, and YSRCP were “close to the Congress”.