New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) received a major share of Rs 52 crore worth of electoral bonds purchased by one of the approvers in the Delhi liquor policy case, as per latest data released by Election Commission of India.
The bonds were purchased by Sharad Chandra Reddy of Aurobindo Pharma. Reddy was arrested in connection with the liquor policy case in November 2022 but turned an approver in the case a few months later.
Between April 2021 and November 2023, Aurobindo Pharma purchased electoral bonds amounting to Rs 52 crore. Data revealed that 66 per cent of these bonds were directed towards the BJP, 29 per cent was cashed by Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) and the remaining portion by Telugu Desam Party (TDP).
The data further revealed that Rs 5 crore worth of bonds were purchased days after Reddy’s arrest. Sharad, son of Aurobindo Pharma founder PV Ram Prasad Reddy, was arrested on November 10, 2022, and the bonds were bought by the pharma company on November 15. The BJP redeemed the Rs 5 crore on November 21.
Reddy, a non-executive director of Aurobindo Pharma, was permitted by a Delhi court to act as an approver in the liquor policy case, in June 2023. The court also extended a pardon to Reddy in the case.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and Delhi Education minister Atishi mentioned Reddy’s electoral bond payments on Saturday, claiming that the ‘money trail’ which the Enforcement Directorate specified in its case against jailed Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, actually went to the BJP via electoral bonds.
ED earlier said that Reddy was involved in the liquor industry and allegedly engaged in unfair market practices to take advantage of the now-scrapped liquor policy.
Aurobindo Pharma, one of the leading pharmaceutical firms in India with a revenue of over Rs 24,000 crore in 2023, has a global presence in 150 countries.
