There seems to be more to Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy’s decision to terminate the Polavaram contract given to Navayuga Engineering than what meets the eye.
The primary impression that everybody gets from the notice is that Jagan wants to go in for fresh tenders because the experts committee appointed by him found out large scale irregularities and corruption in giving the contract to Navayuga on nomination basis after scrapping the agreement with Transstroy.
It caused huge loss and excess payments of over Rs 3,100 crore to the contractors by Naidu government for kickbacks.
So, Jagan wants to bring in transparency in tenders and hence, he has decided to go in for reverse tendering for Polavaram.
But, according to sources, Jagan had been nurturing an old grouse against Navayuga. This company was one of the initial promoters of Vadarevu and Nizampatnam Port Industrial Corridor (VANPIC) with 65 per cent stake during the Y S Rajasekhar Reddy regime.
However, when Jagan was in crisis following the CBI cases, Navayuga quietly exited from the VANPIC project and sold the shares to Ras Al Khaimah Investment Authority and Matrix Enport.
The sale comes days after Nimmagadda Prasad, promoter of Matrix Enport was arrested by the CBI.
The CBI has accused Prasad of investing nearly Rs 1,000 crore in companies controlled by Jagan as quid pro quo for obtaining thousands of acres of land for VANPIC.
Apparently, Jagan was angry with Navayuga for dropping out from the project when it was in crisis. Now, he has got a chance to corner Navayuga.
