Opinion: Conflict of interest looms over CM Revanth's USA visit

Hyderabad: To begin with, the Government of India’s code of conduct regarding ministers states that, “After taking office, and as long as he/she remains in office, the minister shall ensure that the members of their family do not start, or participate in, business concerns engaged in supplying goods or services to that government or dependents primarily on grant of licenses, permits, quotas, leases etc from that government.”

The question is, doesn’t this apply to the chief minister of Telangana, Anumula Revanth Reddy?

When Indira Gandhi had to step down from the prime minister’s chair after a court judgement disqualified her in the case of a conflict of interest, when none other than the tallest leader of today, Sonia Gandhi, had to resign from her MP seat when the Opposition accused her of violating a conflict of interest, then Revanth Reddy cannot be an exception to the law.

Previous visits were led by the IT minister alone

In the 10 years of Telangana, it could be possibly the biggest delegation that has travelled to America this time. Previously, the delegation would only comprise the IT minister and his team of bureaucrats.

But this time, the chief minister led the contingent with the chief secretary and special chief secretaries of Finance, Industries, IT, the CM’s staff, a couple of ministers, MLAs, some Congress leaders and, surprisingly, an editor of a newspaper.

With such a huge team, it was certain that the task was to bring more investments and, with a comparison, prove to have performed and delivered exceedingly well than the previous BRS government. BRS working president KTR and the former IT minister have also wished the contingent the best, hoping they would bring good businesses and employment opportunities to the State.

Signing contracts with dubious companies

It was welcoming to see the first day of the CM’s trip starting with the expansion of Cognisant which compliments the previous government’s efforts and progress. However, day one ended on an ambiguous note with the announcement of a contract with one Walsh Karra Holdings, a company whose directors are dubious, whose financials are conspicuous and whose previous businesses have been struck off.

This particular company with no capital announced along with CM Revanth investments valued at Rs 839 crores in Telangana which raised eyebrows. Why is the Congress government encouraging fraud companies in the State?

Early this year, a company named Godi India Pvt Ltd announced Rs 8,000 crores during Revanth’s Davos tour.

Can a company, which had a paid-up capital of Rs 1 crores only and has shown its annual statements making up to only Rs 27 lakhs, invest Rs 8,000 crores? The Congress has failed to answer this question in the last six months of the announcement of the tie-up.

Musi Rejuvenation project

Congress under CM Revanth’s leadership seems to have taken up the rejuvenation of Musi as their esteemed project. However, this has been without any detailed reports. They first announced an estimate of Rs 50,000 crores then instantly escalated it to Rs 70,000 crores and freshly revised it to a staggering Rs 1.5 lakh crores!

Now, such a mammoth project was discussed to be executed in the chief minister’s office with representatives of a Singapore company MeinHardt whose owners Nasim Shahzad and Omar Shahzad have been charged with economic offences.

They also have a lookout notice for money laundering to the tune of Rs 3,000 crores and have been charged for fleeing the nation by the federal investigation agency in Pakistan. To find the same Omar Shahzad discussing Musi rejuvenation with CM Revanth was startling.

The recent fiasco by the Congress government regarding giving permission to a company named Som Distilleries to sell their beer in Telangana raised severe protests across the State.

The company was notorious for spurious liquor, known for siphoning bank loans to the tune of crores, arrested for tax evasion and blacklisted for child labour. It faced a severe campaign from the Opposition, media and social media which made the Congress government release a media leak to cancel the permissions to this ill-famed company.

The company also funded the Congress party during elections, as shown in the donation records of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

The case of Swachh Bio

With such instances of shady agreements with these faulty companies in just six months of Congress government, the second day of CM Revanth’s trip to the USA came as a shock when an announcement was made regarding Swachh Bio which promised an investment of Rs 1,000 crores in Telangana.

Now, the startling fact is that the company was floated just 15 days ago!

It had two directors registered with the Ministry of Corporate Affairs; Shivananda, who owns a Mezze Bar Mediterranean and More with an address in Lucknow, and the other director is none other than CM Revanth’s younger brother Anumula Jagdeeshwar Reddy with the address of Philadelphia as mentioned during incorporation with the MCA.

The official address of Swachh Bio company as per records was Navanirman Nagar Jubilee Hills, which was found to be a residential apartment which does not even have the company’s name board but has been announced to invest Rs 1,000 crores!

Surprisingly none of the directors signed the MoU. They used an associate of Anumula Jagdeeshwar, Harsha Pasunuri, to sign the MoU and pose for a picture with CM Revanth, IT minister Sridhar Babu and the delegation of bureaucrats, making them signatories to this fraud.

The controversy with SuGanit

Swachh Bio also collaborated with SuGanit which was headed by a scientist Praveen Paripati.

As the Opposition exposed CM Revanth’s business deal with his own younger brother for Rs 1,000 crores, the government, for the first time in its defence, has released videos by most senior bureaucrats such as special chief secretary IT Jayesh Ranjan, special chief secretary finance Ramakrishna Rao who had to put their credibility and experience to defend the CM’s business.

In the video, one can see Jayesh Ranjan praying to trust him regarding the USA trip and the companies they were doing business with.

After a mammoth coverage in media across the State which has begun to spread across the nation, Congress ministers and the members of the Parliament jumped into the fire for damage for control, but in vain.

IT Minister Sridhar Babu was defending SuGanit and the scientist’s technical experience. He, however, failed to utter a word on Swachh Bio or the involvement of CM Revanth’s younger brother Jagadish as its director.

Ironically, netizens also noticed that the IT minister, who usually shared almost every update of the visit to the USA, from meetings to delegations to MoU announcements, by posting on his and CMO X accounts, has refrained from endorsing and sharing posts, particularly Walsh Karra Holdings and Swachh Bio investments.

CM Revanth has a lot to answer

Some MPs like Chamala Kiran were confused and got hilarious reactions when they said that CM Revanth’s brother did not own but was the director of the company and close to the promoter.

Kiran as well as AICC secretary questioned the wrong in having CM Revanth's family do business. In fact, they were defended for 'bringing thousands of crores from the USA as an investment to Telangana.'

A few Congress leaders have also come out to defend the chief minister by stating that the work in the agreement is yet to begin forgetting that the MoU has been signed and officially announced in public by the delegation led by the chief ministers and ministers.

The arguments of Congress leaders have put Revanth in soup as he has to answer serious questions.

It could become a problem for his chief minister’s post as this whole act violates the office of the Constitution and his Office of Oath to not favour anyone. Moreover, since CM Revanth claims to hail from a poor economic family, his brother would have to explain how he has earned Rs 1,000 crores to invest. Is there any money laundering involved?

If the directors fail to explain their source of revenue and if there is an intention or criminal motive behind to only make announcements regarding a shell company to gain brand value, then that’s serious trouble in terms of a conflict of interest to CM Revanth.

Because the correspondence address of director Anumula Jagdeeshwar Reddy is mentioned as Philadelphia, the Federal agencies can question Jagadish to explain his businesses, taxations etc. while the Central investigative agencies in India can rightfully question CM Revanth, his younger brother Anumula Jagadish, the bar owner aka another director of Swachh Bio Shivananda as well as Harsha Pasunuri over the Rs 1,000 crores of investment through Swachh Bio in Telangana and explain all their personal interests about the company to save CM Revanth's chair.

Disclaimer

Manne Krishank is the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) spokesperson and social media convenor.

The views and opinions expressed in the article are those of the author and do not reflect the official policy or position of NewsMeter.