YSR Congress party president and former Andhra Pradesh chief minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy on Saturday issued legal notices to two prominent Telugu dailies – Eenadu and Andhra Jyothi – for publishing false and defamatory reports about the agreement between the state government and the Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) during his regime.
In his legal notices, Jagan demanded an unconditional apology, which should be prominently published on the front page of their newspapers, failing which they would have to face defamation cases.
The notices state that the publications have misrepresented judicial proceedings in the United States involving multinational corporate entities, including Gautam Adani, to falsely link him to bribery and corruption.
“The baseless allegations have caused significant damage to his personal and political reputation,” the legal notices said.
The notices emphasize that the agreement with the SECI was entirely transparent and aimed at benefiting the people of Andhra Pradesh.
The SECI, a Government of India entity, offered power at the lowest tariff of Rs 2.49 per unit with significant cost advantages, including a waiver of interstate transmission charges, he said.
Jagan claimed that this agreement, approved after thorough regulatory scrutiny by the Andhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission (APERC) and the Ministry of Power, resulted in savings of Rs 4,420 crore annually and over Rs 1 lakh crore in 25 years for the state.
The legal notices further stated Eenadu and Andhra Jyothi are publishing politically motivated stories driven by their alleged allegiance to the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) and its leader, N. Chandrababu Naidu.
They claim the newspapers are acting as media arms of the TDP, spreading malicious and unverified reports to undermine Jagan’s achievements.
These defamatory stories were intended to divert attention from the Jagan governance, which prioritized transparency and fiscal responsibility.