‘Who this money was given to…,’ How USAID’s ex-India Chief Veena Reddy landed in $21 million funding row

Amid the row over US providing $21 million to India for “voter turnout”, former India director for the US Agency for International Development (USAID) Veena Reddy suddenly came into focus when BJP MP Mahesh Jethmalani questioned her role.

Jethmalani pointed out, “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."

Who is Veena Reddy?

Veena Reddy, an American diplomat, joined USAID’s India office on August 5, 2021. Born in Andhra Pradesh, she announced her return to the U.S. on July 17, 2024, over a month after the Lok Sabha elections.

Before joining the U.S. Foreign Service, Reddy worked as a corporate attorney in New York, London, and Los Angeles. She holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence from Columbia Law School and an MA and BA from the University of Chicago.

Trump slams Biden for allocation of $21 million to India

US President Donald Trump has once again questioned the Biden administration's decision to allocate $21 million to India for “voter turnout”, guessing that they were trying to "get somebody else elected".

“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 said

He further questioned the purpose of the funds as he reiterated that the US "can hardly get in there" because of high Indian tariffs.

The BJP, meanwhile, said that Trump’s latest remarks was a “reaffirmation” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s assertion during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls campaign that foreign powers were trying to stop him from coming to power.

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has aligned himself with global networks seeking to undermine India’s strategic and geopolitical interests while “acting as a tool for foreign agencies”, alleged BJP's IT department head Amit Malviya, targeting the grand old party following the US president’s remarks.