• Source:JND
Add as a preferred

Amid an ongoing debate over funds provided by the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the BJP has claimed that the funds were used to influence the voters in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The attacks from the ruling party escalated after US President Donald Trump said that the USAID officials might have wanted someone else to win the Lok Sabha polls of 2024.

The BJP leaders have also questioned the role of Veena Reddy, the former director of the USAID in India, in the 2024 LS polls. BJP MP Mahesh Jethmalani, in a post on X, stated that while there was a surge in funds provided to India when she was the director, she left for the US merely a month after the LS results were announced.

ALSO READ: 'Anonymous, Unidentified Body': Israeli Military Confirms Body Returned by Hamas Is Not Hostage Shiri Bibas; Details

“So, DOGE has discovered that USAID allocated $21 million for ‘voter turnout’ in India, a euphemism for paying voters to cast their votes to effect regime change. Veena Reddy was sent to India in 2021 (ominous?) as head of USAID’s Indian mission. Post Lok Sabha elections 2024 (presumably her voter turnout mission done), she returned to the US. Pity because investigating agencies here could have asked her some questions about who this money was given to for applying it to voter turnout operations," Jethmalani posted on X.

Who Is Veena Reddy?

Venna Reddy is an Andhra Pradesh-born American diplomat who has provided her services in many prestigious organisations. She joined USAID's India office on August 5, 2021, and worked in several sectors of India, including education and environment.

However, she announced her return to the US after a month of the declaration of the Lok Sabha poll results. Reddy was a corporate attorney in New York, London, and Los Angeles before joining the US government as a foreign services officer.

ALSO READ: Israel Shaken By Multiple Bus Explosions Near Tel Aviv; Netanyahu Orders Military Action In West Bank Refugee Camps

At the time of her arrival in India, the US Embassy had informed that Reddy holds an MA and BA degree from the University of Chicago. Apart from this, she also holds a doctor of jurisprudence from Columbia University School of Law.

The debate on the alleged misuse of USAID funds began when the Elon Musk-led DOGE stated that it would stop the fund to India provided to "increase the voter turnout".