Congress Leader Rahul Gandhi led the attack against industrialist Gautam Adani in Parliament, saying his close association with Prime Minister Modi had resulted in the former's rapid rise in wealth. The barrage of criticism comes in the wake of US-based activist shortseller Hindenburg's scathing report against Adani group companies being allegedly involved in accounting fraud, stock manipulation and money laundering through offshore tax havens.

"The (Adani-Modi) relationship began many years ago when Narendra Modi was Gujarat CM. When most of India was asking questions of the prime minister, was against the PM (then CM Narendra Modi), one man stood shoulder to shoulder with PM Modi, he was loyal to the prime minister and helped Mr Modi construct the idea of a resurgent Gujarat," Gandhi said.

Adani was the backbone in setting up a group of businessmen in Gujarat, he said, adding that the result was a tremendous expansion of Adani's businesses in Gujarat.

"Then the real magic starts, when the PM comes to Delhi and the real magic begins in 2014. In 2014, he was in 609th spot on the list of richest people. There was magic and he climbed to the second spot," the former Congress chief said.

Gandhi also raised the issue of the report by US-based Hindenburg Research, saying it alleged that Adani has shell companies abroad.

Pointing out that Adani works in strategic sectors, he said the government must find out about these shell companies as to who controls them as this is a national security issue.

Gandhi alleged that the government tweaked rules in favour of Adani and said that the clause that no one without any prior experience would be involved in the development of airports was done away with.

Adani group has a 30 per cent market share in the airports business and also controls 90 per cent of Israel-India defence cooperation, he claimed.

Gandhi also cited the example of Australia, saying PM Modi visited that country and with "magic" USD 1 billion was given to Adani by the State Bank of India.

Gandhi also listed the examples of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka visits of the prime minister to claim that following the trips Adani got contracts there.

Gandhi's comments triggered a war of words with BJP MPs retaliating asking the Congress party to prove what it called “wild allegations.”

Rohan Gupta, spokesperson for the Congress, spoke to CNBC-TV18 and expressed his concerns over the issue.

Gupta stated that there needs to be a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) investigation into the matter, given the recent loss of nearly Rs 8-9 lakh crore in such a short period. He added that if the market has reacted to allegations in an international report, it is imperative that the government investigates the matter.

He said, “As opposition party it is our responsibility to ensure the interest of the shareholders of the common people of the India and when we are asking these questions on something which is abnormal, why government is shying away?”

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Gupta said, “There has to be JPC because it's not normal thing. At least Rs 8-9 lakh crore has been wiped out in such a small period. If this government is correct, they have to prove that. They cannot stop operation from discussing the topic which is concerning common man that is what we are saying again and again.”

Gupta wondered why the issue is not being discussed within Parliament but instead being discussed outside of it. He emphasised the need for a thorough investigation to ensure that investors can have confidence in the stability of the market and to protect the interests of the people.

He said, “There is an international report which has put some allegations and the market has reacted to those allegations then it is the responsibility of government to come clean and prove that there is nothing wrong in that. Why they are discussing these points outside the parliament.”

However, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in an interview to CNBC-TV18 said both the State Bank of India (SBI) and Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) have told her that their exposure to the Adani conglomerate is well within permissible limits. She also said that both SBI and LIC had issued statements in this regard.

Talking about the rout in Adani Group stocks, which have lost over half of their market capitalisation since January 24, the Finance Minister said that the regulators are very stringent about governance practices and have kept the country's markets in prime condition.

(Edited by : Vrushali Sawant, Pradeep John)

First Published:Feb 7, 2023 10:42 PM IST