Amid a brewing storm over the indictment of the Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani in a bribery case by a court in the United States, the curious silence of the chief ministers of sibling Telugu states over the matter has raised eyebrows in political circles.
Despite their party leader Rahul Gandhi demanding immediate arrest of Adani for his alleged fraudulent business practices, the Congress chief minister in Telangana A Revanth Reddy has kept mum over the issue. His government has been, of late, aggressively wooing investments from the Adani Group.
Similarly, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who is a key ally of the NDA 2.0, is maintaining silence over the matter, despite the fact that the US Justice Department authorities have alleged that the bribes were paid by the Adani group during the period when Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy was the Chief Minister to secure solar power contracts.
Though the bribery case in the US court would have put Jagan, a bitter political enemy of the ruling Telugu Desam Party in AP, in a tight spot, the Naidu government is reluctant to make any political capital out of it.
According to TDP sources, the party leadership wants to tread cautiously over the issue. “We don’t want to politicise it. Let the law take its own course. There are some allegations emanating from the US authorities but the Adani Group has firmly denied them,” the party sources said.
Naidu has been personally pushing for investments into AP from the Adani Group. The Chief Minister had recently met the managing director of Adani Ports and SEZ Ltd in this regard. AP needs solar power and is in no position to cancel the Power Purchase Agreements (PPAs) made with Adani Solar.
Moreover, the TDP supremo is in no mood to antagonise Prime Minister Narendra Modi or the BJP central leadership with whom he has struck a good rapport this time around. At the Centre, the TDP is an important ally of the NDA and its support holds key to the stability of the coalition government.
Telangana rolls out a red carpet for Adani
Telangana Chief minister is rolling out red carpet to the Adani group to make investments in the state, while the Congress central leaders have been sharpening their attack on the business conglomerate accusing it of being hand-in-glove with the BJP in looting the country’s resources.
The state government has already signed four Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with the Adani Group for an investment of over Rs 12,400 crore.
The deals include investments from Adani Enterprises, Adani Green Energy, Ambuja Cements and Adani Defence Systems & Technologies. As a part of the agreement, Adani Enterprises will invest over Rs 5,000 crore in a 100 MW data center in the state that will be powered by renewable energy over 5-7 years. The company says this can provide employment to around 600 people, both direct and indirect.
Further, Adani Green Energy will invest over Rs 5,000 crore to set up two pup storage projects of around 850 MW at Koyabestagudem and 500 MW at Nacharam.
Adani Defence Systems & Technologies, in the next ten years, will invest over Rs 1,000 crore towards research, development, design, manufacturing and integration of counter-drone and missile systems at the Adani Aerospace Park. The company claims this project will generate over 1,000 jobs.
Adani’s Rs 100 crore donation
Amidst all the political heat, Gautam Adani’s meeting with Revanth Reddy at the Secretariat in Hyderabad last month raised many an eyebrow in political circles. During the well-publicised meeting, the Adani Foundation donated Rs 100 crore to the Telangana government for the establishment of a skills university aimed at developing industry-specific abilities among young people. Adani himself handed over the cheque to the Chief Minister.
The donation has drawn sharp criticism from opposition parties, with both the BJP and Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) accusing the Congress of adopting ‘double standards’.
The timing of the donation also raised doubts in political circles as it came ahead of the public hearing of the Adani Group-owned Ambuja Cement’s standalone factory at Ramannapet in Telangana’s Yadadri Bhongir district.
The establishment of the cement factory is being opposed by the locals which has been widely reported in vernacular and national media ever since the government gave its green signal for the public hearing in September.
Ambuja Cement had submitted a proposal to the government, seeking permission to set up a grinding unit at Ramannapet on 70 acres, with a project cost of Rs 1,400 crore. This will produce around 60 lakh metric tonnes of cement per annum.
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