Ex-Andhra CM Jagan sends legal notice to media outlet for 'false' report on 'cheapest power agreement'
Hyderabad, Nov 30: Former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday sent a legal notice to the Andhrajyothy publication demanding an unconditional apology. The notice says that the publication spread defamatory, false, and scandalous reports about him in connection with the legal proceedings initiated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) concerning the Adani Group.
The notice firmly rejected these claims as false and accused the newspaper of circulating malicious and misleading information about the YSRCP President.
"The insinuation and further allegations purported to be sourced from the judicial proceedings in the US are clearly aimed at causing severe damage to my client’s reputation as an individual and as a head of the political party being YSRCP, and also to malign my client’s functioning as the chief minister of the state between 2019 to 2024," the notice served by Jagan's advocate read.
It has slammed the publication for carrying "untruthful material with intent and prior knowledge that it would cause harm to my client's reputation seeking to allude to bribes purported to have been paid for securing such agreements and the alleged role of state government securing such contract".
In fact, the notice has come in response to the report saying that the state officials were allegedly paid bribes for solar power purchases during Jagan's YSR Congress was in power.
Rebutting the reports carried by the media organisation, the notice has shared the details of the power purchase agreement, saying it was an agreement amongst governments and no third party was involved in it.
It explains: "The subject matter relates to the agreements amongst that parties, the Government of Andhra Pradesh and DISCOMs of Andhra Pradesh and Solar Energy Corporation of India in pursuance of the initiative by the Government of India commencing from its first communication dated 15/09/2021.
"It was SECI, an instrumentality of the government of India, that had made the phenomenally beneficial offer to the government of Andhra Pradesh. The main advantages to the state owing to the offer from SECI are -- it proposes an arrangement between as GoI undertaking and state government, the tariff at which the solar power was offered was the cheapest of the rates at which the Andhra Pradesh Distribution utilities were procuring solar power till date, the offer from SECI also emphasises the Ministry of Power, GoI's special incentive of waiver of Intern-State Transmission Charges on the power purchased from SECI, which translates to an impact of around Rs 2 per unit of power," states the notice.
"Can any state government upon receiving such an offer from the Government of India undertaking, that is extremely beneficial to the interests of the state, ignore or decline such an offer?" asks the notice.
According to it, "if any state government were to ignore or decline such an offer, would its action not be subject to severe criticism and would motives not be attributed to such state government?"
The notice explains how due and thorough process was gone through before executing the agreement.
"After due process, the Council of Ministers approved the proposal on 28/10/2021, the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission conveyed their approval on 11/11/2021, the Ministry of Power, GoI, issued orders to Central Electricity Regulatory Commission on 30th November 2021, granting waiver of ISTS charges to the projects and only subsequently the Power Sale Agreement was executed on 01.12.2021 amongst the parties, the Solar Energy Corporation of India, Distribution Utilities of Andhra Pradesh and Government of Andhra Pradesh,” says the notice, adding: "Apart from these, there are no other parties to the Power Sale Agreement."
The tariff that was offered for supply at Rs 2.49 per unit was the least of the tariffs at which PPAs were ever executed in Andhra Pradesh in the last 25 years for procurement of solar power or wind power, says the notice.
The notice says that "without regard to the same and the totality of circumstances, including the best interests of the state which was cornerstone of decision making of my client's tenure as Chief Minister, and the decision-making by my client as head of Government, you relentlessly continue to publish news articles on Andhrajyothy.com from 21/11/2024, with the narrative that the proceedings in US Courts speak of the payment of receipt of bribe to my client."
The former CM has called upon the media outlet to tender an unconditional apology to him, prominently published on the front page of the newspaper forthwith.