The sensational report carried by Sakshi media house owned by YSR Congress party president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy, linking Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s family-owned Heritage Group to VSR Aviation, whose aircraft crash led to the killing of Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar last month triggered uproar in political circles.
The allegations surfaced after Nationalist Congress Party MLA Rohit Pawar, nephew of Ajit Pawar, released a series of videos claiming that Heritage had financial links with VSR Aviation.
Based on these claims, the YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) launched a sharp attack on the Heritage Group.
Responding to the controversy, Telugu Desam Party general secretary and state IT minister Nara Lokesh issued a clarification on Wednesday, dismissing the allegations as “baseless and politically motivated.”
Speaking informally to media persons, Lokesh said there was no connection between Heritage and VSR Aviation beyond a routine financial transaction.
He explained that Heritage Fin Lease was established in 1996, while VSR Aviation availed financing from Heritage Fin Lease only in 2022, like any other company.
“At that time, could we have predicted that we would come to power or that our MP would become the Union Civil Aviation Minister? Could we have foreseen that Ajit Pawar would board a VSR flight and that it would meet with an accident?” Lokesh asked.
He accused YSRCP leaders of making unfounded allegations and said he would respond only to issues that genuinely required clarification.
“We will give a detailed explanation regarding VSR Aviation. But why should I respond to every baseless allegation made by Jagan?” he said.
Lokesh further compared the accusations to “killing someone and placing the knife in another person’s hand,” alleging that the opposition was trying to falsely implicate the ruling party.
According to the Sakshi report, Heritage Fin Lease had provided funding worth hundreds of crores to VSR Aviation for aircraft purchases.
It claimed that this financial backing and alleged links with senior TDP leaders helped VSR Aviation grow rapidly—from a company with a turnover of â¹10 crore in 2016 to â¹500 crore at present.
“Despite these claims and the circulation of photographs and documents by Rohit Pawar, neither TDP leaders nor the Heritage Group had initially issued detailed responses,” the Sakshi report said.