Gayatri Projects bailout exposes BJP-Congress nexus

NCLT-approved Rs 2,400 crore bailout for Gayatri Projects, linked to a Congress leader, highlights a bipartisan protection of politically connected corporates. Despite insolvency and stalled projects, both BJP and Congress shielded the company, exposing systemic favouritism in government contracts

Hyderabad: Traditional political rivals, the BJP and the Congress, appear hand in glove when it comes to shielding corporate interests of their own. The case of Gayatri Projects, promoted by former Congress MP and Congress Working Committee permanent invitee, has once again pointed out how both the national parties operate as two sides of the same coin.

Last week, the Hyderabad bench of the National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT) approved a Rs 2,400 crore one-time settlement (OTS) plan for Gayatri Projects, effectively writing off a staggering Rs 5,700 crore of its Rs 8,100 crore dues to banks led by Canara Bank. With 97 per cent of lenders voting in favour, the promoters were handed a lifeline, despite defaults, stalled projects and insolvency. The recovery for banks is a mere 30 per cent.

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That a Congress leader’s company could secure such largesse under a BJP-led Central government exposes the hypocrisy of both sides. BJP leaders thunder against Congress corruption from the top of their voice, but quietly extend lifelines to its favourite businessmen in the corridors of Delhi.

During the Congress governments, Gayatri Projects bagged a slew of irrigation and highway contracts, including the troubled Devadula project.

Despite repeated failures and mounting debts, contracts kept flowing. Under the Modi government, the same patronage continued.

Fact is that Gayatri Projects has been struggling financially and legally for years. The Uppal – Narapally Flyover, a central project (NH-163) in Hyderabad, awarded in 2018 for around Rs 425 crore, stalled midway. Due to mounting pressure from public, Telangana Roads and Buildings Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy formally requested Union Minister Nitin Gadkari in June 2024 to remove the contractor. But in May 2025, Gadkari announced the flyover would be completed within 10 months, not by replacing Gayatri, but by backing it further. This, while the company was still facing insolvency proceedings.

This decision raised eyebrows, for it effectively rescued a contractor with a tainted record, while leaving Hyderabad’s commuters stranded in perpetual traffic chaos. Instead of replacing Gayatri, the BJP bent backwards to accommodate it. Predictably, the Congress which keeps accusing the Centre of writing off loans obtained by various business conglomerates, maintained a studied silence, unwilling to question the protection being given to its own.

An examination of the government records reveals that Gayatri Projects secured multiple National Highway Authority of India contracts, Jal Jeevan Mission works worth Rs 2,485 crore, and irrigation projects in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka between 2015 and 2021. Even during insolvency proceedings (2022–2025), no decisive action was taken to blacklist the company.

The contrast could not be sharper. Farmers are hounded for defaulting on loans of a few thousand rupees, small businesses collapse under debt, yet a politically connected company is bailed out with write-offs running into thousands of crores. By shielding Gayatri Projects, both the BJP and Congress have once again revealed the cosy nexus that binds them.

Despite defaults, contracts keep flowing

Major contracts/LOAs of Gayatri Projects (2015–2025):

– In 2015, NHAI highway packages in Uttar Pradesh (Ghaghra–Varanasi, Sultanpur–Varanasi) worth Rs 3,318 crore

– Eastern Peripheral Expressway (Package VI) worth Rs 675 crore

– In 2016, 4-laning Chittoor area highway project worth Rs 306 crore

– In 2018, Purvanchal Expressway Package I (Chand Sarai-Sansara) worth Rs 1,483 crore

– Purvanchal Expressway Package II (Sansara-Jaraikala) worth Rs 1,276 crore

– NHAI Cuttack-Angul (NH-42/NH-55) – PKG 1 of Rs 583 crore and PKG-2 of Rs 529 crore

– Uppal-Narapally Elevated Corridor/Uppal Flyover (NH-163, Hyderabad) of Rs 425 crore (JV with OJSC SIBMOST)

– Bharatmala/four-lane highway package (JV) worth Rs 1,139 crore

– In 2019, Nagpur-Mumbai Expressway (Shirdi section) costing Rs 1,312 crore

– Jammu Ring Road of Rs 1,339 crore; Khambataki Ghat tunnel (Satara, Maharashtra) of Rs 493 crore; Dimapur-Kohima road package (Nagaland) of Rs 340 crore; and multiple irrigation works (Chintalapudi, Kempwad lift irrigation)

– In 2020, new road work orders (aggregate) worth Rs 1,323 crore

– In 2020-21, Jal Jeevan Mission water distribution projects worth Rs 2,485 crore

– Various irrigation/lift irrigation packages in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh (multi hundred crore each)

– In 2022, BOT/SPV projects Indore-Dewas Tollways and Sai Maatarini Tollways — terminated by NHAI; led to arbitration claims and BG liabilities

– Between 2022-2025, after NCLT admitted GPL into insolvency (Nov 2022), large new LOAs mostly stopped. Focus shifted to executing ongoing contracts and handling arbitration claims