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US President Donald Trump alleged that Joe Biden’s administration had tried to manipulate India’s general elections by sanctioning a $21 million grant to USAID which was later cancelled
Former India director for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Veena went to the US more than a month after the General Elections. (Source: X/USAIDIndiaMD)
US President Donald Trump on Wednesday mentioned USAID was sanctioned $21 million for voter turnout in India, hinting at the Joe Biden administration’s attempt to manipulate the results of the general elections.
“Why do we need to spend $21 million on voter turnout in India? I guess they were trying to get somebody else elected. We have got to tell the Indian government… This is a total breakthrough,” said Trump, while speaking about $21 million funding through USAID which has now been stopped.
Amid the uproar over $21 million, the limelight also shifted to former India director for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Veena Reddy when BJP MP Mahesh Jethmalani questioned her role in this funding.
“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,” said Jethmalani.
Who Is Veena Reddy?
Veena Reddy is an American diplomat who joined the India office of USAID on August 5, 2021. She was born in Andhra Pradesh.
On July 17, 2024, Reddy announced that she was returning to the United States more than a month after the Lok Sabha elections were completed.
Reddy had worked as a corporate attorney in New York, London, and Los Angeles and later served as a foreign services officer for the US government.
Reddy earned a degree of doctor of jurisprudence from Columbia University School of Law and completed her MA and BA from the University of Chicago.
She also worked in USAID missions in the Central Asian Republics, Central America and Pakistan. She is also a member of the bar councils of California and New York.
In her three years of tenure as mission director, Reddy worked on various projects in the fields of economic development, education and social services, human rights, democracy, governance and health, as per the US Department of State.
During Reddy’s tenure in New Delhi, fresh agreements were signed or USAID-funded programmes were implemented by India Railways, Ministry of Power, NITI Aayog, National Power Training Institute (NPTI) and Power Sector Skill Council, NTPC Green National Skills Development Corporation, Ministry of Tribal Affairs, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Atal Innovation Mission and others.
Reddy also visited various states to promote and oversee programmes related to forestry, health, digital payments promotion, education and others.
She also took part in various high-level government programmes and was a speaker at a World Toilet Day programme in November 2023.
