Jagan turned AP into ‘Adani Pradesh’, slams Sharmila

Hyderabad: Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president Y S Sharmila said former chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy had defamed Andhra Pradesh while Gautam Adani defamed India by resorting to largescale corruption in power supply deals.

Sharmila’s attack against her brother follows US court filings in a bribery and fraud case against Adani and other executives of his ports-to-power conglomerate, alleging that Rs 1,750 crore in bribes were paid to a ‘senior Andhra Pradesh government official’ in 2021 to secure state energy contracts for the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).

“If Adani is defaming India, Jagan Mohan Reddy is defaming Andhra Pradesh,” she said at a press conference here on Friday. “Rs 1,750 crore in bribes was given in a solar energy deal. To cover this up, Jagan Mohan Reddy has placed a Rs 17,000 crore burden on the state.”

The Congress leader also said that Jagan Mohan Reddy handed key infrastructure projects to the Adani Group in exchange for kickbacks, including the sale of a 10 per cent stake in the Gangavaram port project. She accused him of handing over the entire state “like a blank cheque” to Adani and turned Andhra Pradesh into ‘Adani Pradesh’.

“It was YS Rajasekhara Reddy’s dream that the Gangavaram port remain under government control, but Jagan sold 10 per cent of it to Adani for Rs 640 crore when it was worth Rs 9,000 crore,” she alleged. “How much bribe did Jagan Mohan Reddy get in this deal? He has turned Andhra Pradesh into ‘Adani Rashtra.’”

The APCC chief demanded the cancellation of the power deal and a comprehensive review of all agreements between the state government and the Adani Group. “Adani should be blacklisted. All deals between Jagan Mohan Reddy and Adani must be investigated and reviewed,” Sharmila said.

Echoing demand of party senior leader Rahul Gandhi, she also asked the Central government to form a joint parliamentary committee to probe the allegations of bribery and corruption.

“Mr Modi, we now hope that you’ll take action, that Mr Adani will be arrested immediately and prosecuted here or extradited to America,” she added.

…accuses her brother of linking her to Prabhas

APCC chief YS Sharmila expressed deep anguish over slanderous campaign against her linking her to actor Prabhas. “Even today, I don’t know who Prabhas is,” she said while targeting her brother and former chief minister Jagan Mohan Reddy for running slanderous propaganda against her through his social media team.

She asked Jagan why he had not taken action for five years if rumours about her relationship with Prabhas were spread from the house of actor and TDP MLA Balakrishna.

She said Jagan Mohan Reddy recently claimed that rumours about her were spread from an IP address in Balakrishna’s house. “If you really love your sister and if you believed that the false propaganda was made from the IP address in Balakrishna’s house, what did you do as the Chief Minister for five years,” she asked.

“Didn’t your Satan army on social media spread the lies that I had relations with Prabhas? When I filed the case that false propaganda was being run against me, I said I have so far not seen a person called Prabhas. Even today, I don’t know who Prabhas is,” she said.

“Then I swore on my children that I have no relations with him and I swear today that I have no relations with him,” she added.

Sharmila said though Jagan knew that she had no relations with Prabhas, he carried out propaganda through his ‘satan army’ during the last five years that she had no character and that she had relations with Prabhas. “Is this the love you have for your sister? You should be ashamed,” she said.