BJP dares Congress to approach court on the charges involving the Adani Group entity in the U.S.

On the allegations, BJP MP and spokesperson Sambit Patra said it was for the private company to issue a response in its defence, and that the law would take its own course. File
| Photo Credit: The Hindu

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday (November 21, 2024) said the Congress should approach the court with the charges involving an Adani Group company instead of only raising the issue in the media, pointing out that none of the four Indian States mentioned in the United States court document had a BJP government during the time period in question. 

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On the allegations, BJP MP and spokesperson Sambit Patra said it was for the private company to issue a response in its defence, and that the law would take its own course.

“Documents are in the public domain…the issue pertains to electricity sale-purchase agreements and agreements with with State Distribution Companies (SDCs) and the relevant time period is from July 2021 to February 2022. India’s four States have been named in U.S. court. At that time, Congress’s Bhupesh Baghel’s government was in Chhattisgarh, there was YSRCP rule in Andhra Pradesh, the DMK (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) government was in Tamil Nadu, and Biju Janata Dal was in power in Odisha,” Mr. Patra said.

“Rahul Gandhi said he has no objection to any of his former CMs or leaders being interrogated. Then let Bhupesh Baghel be interrogated. The Ministers under whom the Electricity Department fell in the respective States should also be questioned. Why would we have any objections?” he said.

The BJP leader accused Mr. Gandhi and the Congress of continuously attempting to damage Indian markets. “Your entire structure involving the likes of George Soros and Ilhan Omar (American representative) wants to keep damaging Indian markets. You cannot tolerate the fact that the Indian economy is racing towards the third position in the world. That’s why such attacks are being mounted,” Mr. Patra alleged.

“Since 4 a.m. today, the entire structure is alive on social media, sending ‘signals’ even to the international markets. The consequence is that about 2.5 crore small investors lost their hard-earned money,” the BJP leader said.

Responding to the Congress’s charge that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s credibility at the global level had been destroyed, Mr. Patra said attempts to tarnish Mr. Modi’s image had been made since 2002. However, Mr. Modi’s credibility was so high that on Thursday (November 21, 2024), he was bestowed the highest civilian award in a country thousands of kilometres away, Mr. Patra said.

“Mr. Gandhi today said that Mr. Modi was behind Mr. Adani. In that case, why did the Congress’s Bhupesh Baghel government in Chhattisgarh accept ₹25,000-crore investment from an Adani company? In Rajasthan, in the Ashok Gehlot government, ₹65,000-crore investment by a Adani company was allowed — why? In Karnataka, where the Congress is still in power, ₹1 lakh-crore investment was promised; we don’t know right now as to how much of it was done,” he said.

Mr. Patra said that in West Bengal, an investment of ₹35,000 crore had been made by the same group. In Andhra Pradesh, the figure was ₹60,000 crore, and it was ₹4,500 crore in Tamil Nadu. “On October 19, 2024, Adani Foundation donated ₹100 crore for skill upliftment in Telangana, ruled by the Congress government. Why did you take that donation from a ‘corrupt’ person?” he said, adding that in January 2024, the Telangana government had signed an estimated ₹12,400-crore Memoranda of Understanding with Adani Group companies.

“Be it the 2G case, Commonwealth Games case, or the coal scam — on all these issues, the BJP went to court. You should also also do the same. And, today (Thursday [November 21, 2024]) at the press conference, you (Mr. Gandhi) said the Congress has to do the judiciary’s work as well. There should be suo moto cognisance for contempt on such a remark,” Mr. Patra said.

Mr. Patra also questioned the timing of the Congress’s allegations, calling it part of “an old strategy” being adopted before the start of a Lok Sabha session. “Their objective is to create chaos, damage the country’s economy, and not to allow Parliament to function smoothly,” Mr. Patra said.