In a commotion filled debate in the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, the Leader of Opposition in upper house and Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge again pressed for Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the Adani-Hindenburg saga even while questioning if the Billionaire tycoon Gautam Adani’s meteoric rise was due to favour of friendship (from the Prime Minister).
Treasury Benches, however, vehemently opposed Kharge’s allegations in his over hour long address with the Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman intervening to rebut the allegations, which she remarked are infused with insinuation against the Prime Minister Narendra Modi and “that’s what we are objecting to”.
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They (opposition parties) are overtly insinuating the Prime Minister, she added.
Taking part in the discussion on motion of thanks on President’s address, Kharge highlighted that “Wealth of one of the closest friends of PM Modi increased by 13 times in 2.5 years. In 2014, it was ₹50,000 crore while in 2019 it became ₹1-lakh crore. What magic happened that suddenly in two years assets worth ₹12-lakh crore came. Is it due to favour of friendship?”,
Kharge, who is Congress President, went on the offensive as part of efforts to tighten the noose on the Centre over its alleged Adani connection.
Read also: Opposition demands JPC probe or CJI supervised inquiry into Adani Group crisis
“If I speak the truth, is it anti-national? I am not anti-national. I am more patriotic than anyone here. I am a Bhoomi putra …you are looting the country and telling me that I am anti national”, he said.
Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar wanted Kharge to “authenticate” the various allegations levelled by the Congress leader against the Prime Minister.
Meanwhile, Piyush Goyal, who is Leader of Rajya Sabha, countered the allegations made on Adani by Kharge, stating that the opposition is making allegations based on “baseless foreign reports”.
Filling up vacancies
Kharge, who launched an attack on the Modi-led government, said there are 30 lakh vacancies in government and public sector … “Why is the government not filling them?… You are sending money to private sector….₹ 82,000 crore ….Instead invest in public sector. 10 lakh people work in public sector but you send ₹82,000 crore to private entities like Adani, where only 30,000 people work. Still he gets encouragement”, Kharge said.
Highlighting the widening wealth gap between the rich and the poor in the country, Kharge said that an Oxfam report highlighted that the top 5% hold 62% of the country’s wealth . “Those at bottom have 3-4% wealth, you (President) didn’t mention that in your speech “, Kharge said.
Congress President hit out at the Prime Minister Modi over rising unemployment in the country. “PM Modi promised the country’s population of 2 crore jobs every year. (He said) youth, if I come every year there will be 2 crore jobs. In these 9 years, where are the 18 crore jobs? Leave that, you are not even filling 50 lakh vacancies. 30 lakh government jobs are not being filled”, Kharge said.