The reports that appeared in a section of media that chairman of industrial giant Adani group Gautam Adani had a meeting with YSR Congress party president and Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Sunday triggered speculations in the industrial and political circles.
According to these reports, Gautam Adani, along with his brothers, came down to Vijayawada and held a confidential meeting with Jagan at the chief minister’s camp office for over an hour.
Since it was an unscheduled meeting, it had not been officially disclosed to the media. And it was purely a courtesy call, the reports said.
However, speculations are rife that the Adani brothers had discussed with the chief minister over the legal implications in the sale of the state government’s 10.4 per cent stake in the Gangavaram port for a consideration of around Rs 645 crore.
It may be mentioned that two advocates from Prakasam district filed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition in the high court on Saturday against the Jagan government’s latest decision to sell its stake in Gangavaram Port Limted (GPL) to the Adani Group.
A division bench of the high court comprising chief justice A K Goswami and justice N Jayasurya, which took up the PIL, posted the matter to September 20 for further hearing, after advocate general Subrahmanyam Sriram sought time to submit the report of the high-power committee which recommended sale of the state government’s stake in the Gangavaram port.
The Adani group already has 89.61 per cent stake in the Gangavaram port, after it acquired controlling stake of 58.1 per cent equity from its original promoter D V S Raju and his family on March 23 this year for Rs 3.604 crore. Earlier in the same month, it acquired 31.5 per cent stake from Warburg Pincus.
If the Andhra Pradesh government offloads its stake of 10.4 per cent, the Adani Group would be holding 100 per cent equity in the Gangavaram port, which came into operation in July, 2009.
