Adani Bribe Row: My name is nowhere in US indictment, says Jagan

Vijayawada: YSRCP president and former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday strongly refuted allegations of payment of bribes to Andhra Pradesh officials by the Adani Group for solar power purchases during his tenure, and said his name was not mentioned anywhere in a US court’s indictment on the matter.

In his first reaction days after the controversy broke out, Reddy also said he had met the Adanis several times during his tenure as the CM of Andhra Pradesh which was “not unusual”. “Nowhere it mentions that incentives were offered to me because there is no way anybody can offer incentives to me, first of all. And businessmen meeting heads of states is not unusual. This in fact is an ordinary practice,” he told reporters. He further said the allegations of bribes are all hearsay and nobody has said that Jagan or somebody has taken bribes.

Describing the agreement with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) as ‘historic,’ the former CM said that with the power supply agreement with SECI at Rs 2.49 per unit, the state would be saving over Rs 1 lakh crore over 25 years.

He said he would file a defamation case to the tune of Rs 100 crore against some vernacular dailies for allegedly distorting the facts and publishing stories, if they do not apologise within 48 hours.