The return of the Adani solar beam

Near Kamudhi, in Ramanathapuram district
| Photo Credit: THE HINDU/L. BALACHANDAR

STATE OF PLAY

Nearly 10 years after (now Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, or DMK’s president) M.K. Stalin had kicked up a row over the move by the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO) to buy solar power from the Adani Group — Jayalalithaa of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) was the Chief Minister then — the Adani affair has come back to haunt Mr. Stalin.

In July 2015, Mr. Stalin, who was in the Opposition and the DMK’s treasurer, wanted then Energy Minister Natham R. Viswanathan to explain the determination of the purchase price of ₹7.01 per unit for solar power from the group, which had quoted ₹6.049 per unit in Madhya Pradesh.

In the run-up to the 2016 Assembly poll too, Mr. Stalin had alleged that there was corruption behind the conglomerate’s plan to set up a 648-megawatt solar power plant in Kamudhi, Ramanathapuram district.

The controversy follows the U.S. Department of Justice’s criminal indictment of the chairman of the Adani Group Gautam Adani and several of his associates recently. Announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York last week, the indictment mentions Tamil Nadu as one of the States whose electricity distribution companies had signed agreements with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI), a central government enterprise, for Adani-provided solar power. The group is alleged to have put forth the “promise of bribes” to Indian government officials between July 2021 and February 2022.

Government’s clarification

Hours after the issue erupted on November 21, 2024, the DMK regime, which came to power in May 2021, fielded Electricity Minister V. Senthilbalaji to issue a clarification. He was on record to say that there was “no commercial link” with the group over the last three years, and “no link whatsoever” in any manner with the group.

Explaining that the State government had entered into memoranda of understanding with entities falling under the control of the Union Power Ministry to procure electricity, Mr. Senthilbalaji explained that the State utility’s agreement was only with the SECI to purchase electricity for 1,500 MW at ₹2.61 per unit, which was “very low”. Mr. Senthilbalaji himself was recently re-inducted in the State Cabinet as Electricity Minister after having been in remand for about 470 days in connection with a money laundering case.

The latest development involving the Adani Group has prompted the Communist Party of India (Marxist), a DMK ally, to demand a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation; it even staged a demonstration in Chennai in support of its demand. The General Secretary of the CPI, another ally of the DMK, D. Raja, said that the American indictment called in question not only the personal integrity of Mr. Adani and his business empire but also the integrity of Indian watchdogs and the administration under which “such unethical practices” were flourishing.

The AIADMK chief, Edappadi K. Palaniswami, has been quiet even though he could have gone to town with an issue to target his principal adversary, the DMK (and Mr. Stalin), as well as the national party, the Bharatiya Janata Party, with whom he fell out about 15 months ago. Mr. Palaniswami has been consistent in maintaining that there will be no truck with the national party for the 2026 Assembly poll. It was left to Pattali Makkal Katchi founder S. Ramadoss and Naam Tamilar Katchi coordinator Seeman to raise questions over the purported Adani-Stalin meeting in Chennai four months ago. Mr. Seeman, who has been saying that he will go it alone for the 2026 Assembly poll, appears to be on the same page as the AIADMK on one issue — on the “tacit understanding” between the DMK and the BJP.

Backing his Minister’s observations on the issue, Mr. Stalin has dismissed the question on the ‘meeting’ with Mr. Adani. He said Dr. Ramadoss did not have “any work to do”. He went on to say that as Dr. Ramadoss had been issuing statements one after the other, there was “no necessity” to reply to his query.

With the principal Opposition party appearing to be unwilling to act, the Adani issue may not acquire much strength to target the DMK. It is expected to fizzle out.

ramakrishnan.t@thehindu.co.in