The corruption charges leveled against businessman Gautam Adani by US prosecutors created an uproar in the two Telugu states with BRS working chief K T Rama Rao demanding that all MoUs signed between Telangana government and Adani Group should be scrapped, while Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu promised action conceding that the bribe scandal has dented the state’s reputation.
The BRS working president said that the previous government led by K Chandrasekhar Rao refused to roll out the red carpet for the Adani group and slammed the Congress government for inviting him to invest in Telangana.
The Congress government led by A Revanth Reddy in Telangana had announced investment deals worth Rs12,400 crore including Rs5,000 crore for two pumped storage power generation projects, data centres with another Rs5000 crore, a cement unit at Ramannapet with Rs1400 crore and an aerospace unit for Rs1000 crore.
Another Rs100 crore from Adani Foundation came as a donation for the proposed skill university.
“If the Kenyan government terminates contracts, why don’t you cancel the agreements signed with Adani?” asked Rao. He then attacked the Leader of the Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, pointing out that he should stop paying lip service, otherwise people will not believe what he is saying.
“Rahul Gandhi should immediately call the chief minister and order him to cancel the agreements with Adani… Rahul Gandhi who criticizes Adani’s friendship with the Prime Minister, why is he silent when Revanth Reddy becomes friends with Adani?” said Rao.
He demanded that all MoUs should be scrapped and a probe committee should be formed and Rs 100 crore given by Adani Foundation returned. Telangana PCC chief Mahesh Goud also said if the MoU that has been signed with the Adani group went against the law it will be scrapped.
Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu also broke his silence on the issue.
Speaking at the legislative Assembly Naidu said, “This has dented Andhra Pradesh’s reputation. If anyone does anything wrong we must take action. The government is also thinking about what action to take.” He said the indictment reports were in the public domain and they will study it and take action accordingly. “We will inform you what action we will take.”
Although no names were mentioned, it is believed that the “Foreign Official#1” from Andhra Pradesh who was offered a bribe might be former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, though the YSRCP in a late evening statement, issued yesterday, denied any connection.
“It is necessary to mention that SECI is a government of India enterprise. There is no direct agreement between AP DISCOMS and any other entities including those belonging to the Adani group. Therefore, the allegations made on the State Government in the light of the indictment are incorrect,” said the statement.