File photo of APCC president Y. S. Sharmila.
| Photo Credit: G. N. RAO
Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee (APCC) president Y. S. Sharmila on Friday (November 22) slammed her brother and former Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy for what she alleged as “handing over Andhra Pradesh to Gautam Adani like a blank cheque.”
“He has turned Andhra Pradesh into Adani Pradesh,” she said, addressing a press conference in Hyderabad. She accused Mr. Jagan of pledging the interests of the people of Andhra Pradesh for a bribe of ₹1,750 crore. “Mr. Jagan’s corruption has reached global level, bringing shame to the YSR family and the State,” she said.
Ms. Sharmila said all agreements made by the former Chief Minister with the Adani Group should be investigated and the latter should be blacklisted in Andhra Pradesh.
She said the fact that it took the US to expose the ‘shady deals’ between Mr. Jagan and Mr. Adani spoke volumes about the ‘lackadaisical’ functioning of the government departments in the State. “Corruption in our country is now being discussed internationally and this is an insult to our nation,” she said reiterating that if Mr. Adani brought disgrace to the country, Mr. Jagan had brought shame to Andhra Pradesh.
Expressing dismay at the big money involved in a single deal at the cost of huge losses to the State discoms, she said Mr. Jagan pocketed a bribe of ₹1,750 crore, while people of Andhra Pradesh were having to bear a financial burden of ₹17,000 crore in surcharge adjustments.
The State Congress chief alleged that while Mr. Adani sold power to Gujarat at ₹1.99 per unit, he made an agreement with Andhra Pradesh for ₹2.49 per unit, which, over 25 years from now, would cost the people of this State ₹1 lakh crore.
She also alleged foul play in Gangavaram Port deal and said pressure was exerted to hand over the Krishnapatnam Port to the Adani Group. The coal supply contracts for the entire State were given to Mr. Adani and so were beach sand mining contracts, she added.
Ms. Sharmila urged the TDP-led coalition government in the State to review the agreements made by Mr. Jagan and also appealed to the Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy to reconsider his government’s stand on business with Mr. Adani.
She said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had remained a silent spectator to the “nation-wide Adani scams”. “Now that the US has issued an arrest warrant against him, it is time for Mr. Modi to respond and act against him,” she emphasised.
Published – November 22, 2024 03:58 pm IST