NEW DELHI: As it struggles to claw back the wealth it lost because of the allegations leveled by the global short seller, Hindenberg, the Adani Group found itself caught in the intense political crossfire over the no-trust vote ,with BJP and Congress accusing each other of favouring the conglomerate.
After Congress leader Rahul Gandhi renewed his accusation about Modi government's partiality towards Gautam Adani's businesses, Union minister for women and child development Smriti Irani vigorously lobbed the ball back into opponent's court , going to the extent of saying that Congress government in Chhattisgarh handed over land of tribals to the Group." The tribals kept protesting, still their land was given away to Adanis", as she reeled off the " benefits "allegedly given by Congress and other non-BJP governments to Adani Group, starting from the go-ahead for building Mundra port.04:36Rahul Gandhi in Lok Sabha: 'Like Raavan, Modi Ji also only listens to 2 people, Amit Shah - Adani,' says Rahul" These people have been harping on Adani- Adani.
I also wish to say a few things on it .i...In 1993 Congress gave space to Adani in the Mundra Port...During the UPA rule, they gave a Rs 72,000 crore loan to Adani.
Why was the work of ports in different states given to Adani during the Congress rule?" she questioned and also referred to Adani projects in Rajasthan, DMK-ruled Tamil Nadu and Mamata Banerjee's .She also displayed a picture of Rahul Gandhis brother-in-law Robert Vadra, spouse of Priyanka Gandhi, with Gautam Adani." Mere pas bhi photo hai", she chirped In his first speech after reinstated as MP, Rahul Gandhi, once again raised the issue of the Adani group, saying, "The last time I spoke, I also caused you (peeda ) pain.
I focused on Adani ji with such intensity, your senior leaders felt pain.
That pain also affected you, for that I apologise to you, Gandhi told Birla.I only spoke the truth.
My BJP friends, you need not be afraid because my speech today will not be focused on Adani, he said and quoted poet Rumi to say 'Jo shabd dil se aate hain woh dil mein jaate hain' (words spoken from the heart appeal to the heart).The Congress leader also alleged that the prime minister listens only to two persons, HM Amit Shah and Adani to which, the ruling party MPs strongly objected.
BJP sourced pointed out Adani group's investments in just four states- Rajasthan, West Bengal, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, all ruled by non-Hindutva formations, add up to over more than 2lakh crore This is in addition to relatively smaller investments in Tamil Nadu and other states.To substantiate their theme, also emphasized Gautam Adani had in an interview earlier this said that his group is working in 22 states, and all these states are not BJP-ruled.
"We are working even in Left-ruled Kerala, in Mamata didi's West Bengal, in Naveen Patnaik ji's Odisha, in Jaganmohan Reddy's state of Andhra Pradesh and even KCR's state of Telangana."