NEW DELHI: Mumbai airport was not “hijacked” by the Modi government from the GVK Group to be handed over to Gautam Adani. GVK vice-chairman G V Sanjay Reddy has refuted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegation made in Parliament on Tuesday that his conglomerate was forced to hand over the airport to the Adani Group in July 2021.
“There was absolutely no pressure from the Adani group or anyone else to sell Mumbai airport.… maybe a year before that (sale), we were looking at fundraising because in our airport holding company we had raised debt nearly 10 years ago, when we acquired Bengaluru airport and that debt was becoming due. So we were talking to investors and we had tied up with three investors… But (the transaction) was not happening,” Reddy told on Tuesday.
“There was absolutely no pressure from the Adani group or anyone else to sell Mumbai airport.… maybe a year before that (sale), we were looking at fundraising because in our airport holding company we had raised debt nearly 10 years ago, when we acquired Bengaluru airport and that debt was becoming due. So we were talking to investors and we had tied up with three investors… But (the transaction) was not happening,” Reddy told on Tuesday.
“So around the same time Gautam (Adani) bhai approached me and he said he has a lot of interest in Mumbai airport and whether we are willing to do a transaction with him at the same terms and conditions – the only difference being that he said he will ensure he will conclude the entire transaction in one month, which was very important for us,” Reddy told NDTV, denying any pressure from CBI or ED.