New Delhi, Feb 7 (PTI) GVK Group Vice Chairman Sanjay Reddy on Tuesday said there was absolutely no pressure from the Adani Group or anyone else to sell the Mumbai airport.

His comments come on a day when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged in Lok Sabha that "Mumbai airport, was taken away from GVK using agencies such as the CBI and the ED, and was given to Adani by the Government of India".

Also Read | Nagaland Assembly Elections 2023: Total 225 Candidates File Nominations for Upcoming Polls.

Adani Group took over the management of the Mumbai airport from the GVK Group in July 2021.

In an interview to television channel NDTV on Tuesday, Sanjay Reddy said, "There was absolutely no pressure from the Adani group or anyone else for us to sell the Mumbai airport."

Also Read | Uttar Pradesh Shocker: Woman Injured in Celebratory Firing During Wedding Function in Muzaffarnagar.

While explaining the circumstances that led to the sale of the airport, Reddy said the group was looking to raise funds for the airport business.

Reddy said that at that time, Gautam Adani approached him and said he had a lot of interest in the airport and whether GVK group was willing to do a transaction with him.

"... He (Adani) said that he will assure that we will conclude the entire transaction in one month which was very important for us. So, from that perspective whatever we did was in the interest of the company and the lenders who we had to repay and therefore, we had to close the transaction with Adani because we didn't see any light of day with the other investors," Reddy said.

While leading the Opposition attack over the Adani-Hindenburg issue in Lok Sabha on Tuesday, Gandhi alleged that the government tweaked rules in favour of Adani and said the clause that no one without any prior experience would be involved in the development of airports was done away with.

"This rule was changed by the government and Adani was given six airports. After that India's most strategic, profitable airport, Mumbai Airport, was taken away from GVK using agencies like the CBI, ED, and was given to Adani by the Government of India," he alleged.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)