'Coercion' in Andhra Port Sale Opens Can of Worms; Modi Forgets that for Parliament to Function, There Has to Be Give and Take

Hindutva revanchists target Delhi's Jama Masjid; Jaishankar did not tell Parliament the full story on the India-China border; Scottish-Indian artist wins UK prize and bats for Palestine

A newsletter from The Wire | Founded by MK Venu, Sidharth Bhatia, Pratik Kanjilal, Tanweer Alam, Seema Chishti, Sushant Singh and Siddharth Varadarajan | Contributing writer: Kalrav Joshi, with additional inputs by Anirudh SK

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Snapshot of the day

December 4, 2024

Siddharth Varadarajan

A can of worms has been opened in Andhra Pradesh with the former promoter of Kakinada Port filing a criminal complaint alleging that he was forced to sell his prized asset for a fraction of its true value in a sweetheart deal for Aurobindo Pharma brokered by the former Jagan Mohan Reddy government. K. Venkateswara Rao set up Kakinada seaport in 1997 and says that his 40 per cent stake in the venture—valued at Rs 2,500 crore— “was forcibly acquired for Rs 494 crore”. Three people and two firms have been named in the FIR – (1) Y V Vikranth Reddy, son of YSR Congress Party Rajya Sabha MP Y V Subba Reddy; (2) YSRCP Rajya Sabha MP V Vijayasai Reddy; (3) director of Aurobindo Pharma Sarath Chandra Reddy; (4) PKF Sridhar and Santhanam LLP; and (5) Aurobindo Realty and Infrastructure Pvt Ltd (since renamed Auro Infra Pvt Ltd). All of them are alleged to have been party to the ‘coercive’ sale.

One name stands out. Sarath Reddy was a co-accused in the liquor scam case against AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal before he turned approver and became a Modi regime favourite.

Kakinada was one of three ports which changed hands during Jagan Reddy’s time, the other two being Gangavaram and Krishnapatnam, both of which were acquired by the