Balineni Srinivasa Reddy, who served as the Energy Minister during the YSRCP regime, revealed that the agreement with Seki was made without his involvement. He said that he was woken up at 1 am and asked to sign, but suspecting some mischief he refused to sign. However, he said that he put it in front of the cabinet the next day and approved it.
He said that he did not know then that there was such a conspiracy behind it. He said that he did not expect that so much was done behind the Seki agreement. The next day, there was a cabinet meeting, and Balineni said that Srikanth, who was then the Energy Secretary, called him at 1 am and asked him to sign the agreement with Seki.
Balineni said that he refused to sign such a big deal because he felt that there was something wrong with him. He said that his PS had warned him beforehand that he would sign without knowing the full details.
Balineni explained that after some time, Srikanth called his additional PS and told him that if he did not sign, the file should be sent to the cabinet meeting. Balineni said that he took the file to the cabinet in the morning as Srikanth had said and the agreement was approved in the cabinet meeting.
He said that he did not sign a single thing anywhere and everything was led by a senior minister. He said that the agreement was made without his involvement in his decisions. He commented that why would government officials tell him about such agreements?
Balineni revealed that Srikanth would come occasionally and discuss the agreement with Seki but never told him the full details. Before the AP government signs an agreement to purchase 7000 megawatts of electricity worth Rs. 1,05,825 crore for 25 years, a lot of work needs to be done before that.
The officials should assess whether the agreement is a profit or loss for the state. If other states have made similar agreements, they should study the prices. The relevant minister, secretary and officials should sit down and talk. They should also discuss with experts. But it is becoming clear that the Jagan government did not do any such work before signing the agreement with SEKI.