A retired bureaucrat from Andhra Pradesh has blamed two IAS officers for the Adani bribery scandal that has hit the state and urged Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu to order a probe and take action since it has undermined investor confidence.

Dr PV Ramesh who had once been appointed special chief secretary to the then chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy wrote a lengthy post on the social media platform ‘X’. He wrote, “In June 2019, Andhra Pradesh cancelled 2132 MW of PPAs involving 23 solar projects of 9 RE producers. The same government signed a PPA for 7000 MW of solar energy from one developer via SECI Limited in December 2021. Two IAS officers played a key role in aiding and abetting their ‘lord and master’ in facilitating the extraction of massive rent on both occasions.” The term ‘rent’ seems to be a euphemism for bribe.

The US prosecution has charged Gautam Adani and his nephew of offering a massive bribe to a top official of the Andhra Pradesh government whose name has not been revealed but might be former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Dr Ramesh in his post also observed the fallout of the cancellation of earlier PPAs and then entering into a PPA with the Adani group through SECI. He wrote, “A well-functioning power system of AP was torn asunder and damaged seriously. This has undermined the viability of power utilities, steeply increased the real cost of power delivered to the consumer, negatively impacted the economy and undermined investor confidence. These criminal actions require serious investigation and exemplary action. Real situation is much worse than what’s available in the public domain. Priority action needed with a sense of urgency.”

However, Naidu might find it difficult to act against Adani Group since his ally, the BJP is considered close to the investor. CM Naidu has assured the Legislative Assembly that his government will definitely take action against the guilty.

Dr PV Ramesh was the finance secretary during Naidu’s earlier tenure and also served as the health secretary when Reddy was the chief minister. But after his retirement, he fell out with Reddy and was even forced to resign from Megha Engineering, the contractor for Polavaram, after he spoke in support of Naidu when the latter was being investigated by CID for his involvement in the Skill Development scam.