Odisha: BJD denies Adani connection in renewable energy deals

Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], November 22 (ANI): Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on Friday denied any involvement with the Adani group in procuring renewable energy for the state of Odisha.
Releasing a statement to refute the "media reports relation to power purchase agreements in Odisha with Adani group," the party said that the agreements were made between two government agencies, the Solar Energy Corporation of India Limited (SECI) and Gridco, with no involvement of Adani group.
SECI is a Public Sector Undertaking (PSU) under the Union Ministry of Renewable Energy, whereas Gridco is a PSU under the Odisha government.
"The agreement was to procure 500MW of renewable energy from SECI at the lowest rates discovered by SECI and it was between two government entities. There was no engagement with any private party whatsoever, including the Adani group," BJD's statement read.
The party also said that to meet the state's energy requirement, the government had been procuring from PSUs such as SECI and National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) from 2011.
"Hence these allegations with respect to Odisha are baseless and incorrect," the party added.
Up until June of this year, BJD was the ruling party in the state for the last 24 years, until the BJP won a majority in the assembly elections held earlier this year.
Earlier, the state's Former Energy and Industry Minister and BJD MLA Pratap Keshari Deb dismissed allegations linking Former Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's government to the alleged bribery case against Gautam Adani as baseless.
"Allegations levelled against the previous BJD government as far as energy distribution and purchase is concerned is baseless because we do not have any such direct agreement of power purchase with the Adani group," he told ANI.
US prosecutors have indicted Gautam Adani and seven others for allegedly bribing Indian government officials to secure solar power contracts. Prosecutors claim the Adani Group paid millions of dollars in bribes, with a significant portion allegedly directed at officials in Andhra Pradesh (under Jagan Reddy's YSR Congress), Odisha (ruled by Naveen Patnaik's BJD), Tamil Nadu (under DMK), Chhattisgarh (under Congress), and Jammu and Kashmir (under central rule).
On Thursday, the Adani Group strongly refuted bribery allegations made by the US Department of Justice and the US Securities and Exchange Commission against directors of the Adani Green terming them baseless. (ANI)