Rahul seeks Adani’s immediate arrest, BJP responds

New Delhi: A political slugfest broke out between the BJP and the Congress over the indictment of industrialist Gautam Adani in the US. While Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi criticised Prime Minister Modi’s credibility citing his alleged proximity to the business tycoon, the BJP hit back claiming that all the states mentioned in the indictment were at that time ruled by the Opposition parties.

Addressing a press conference in New Delhi hours after the US prosecutors charged Adani and associates for allegedly paying a $250 million bribe to Indian officials, the Congress leader said it is now pretty clear and established in the US that the businessman has broken Indian as well as American laws.

The Congress leader said that Adani should be arrested immediately and interrogated while his “protector” and Sebi chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch should be removed from her post and a probe should be initiated. Gandhi further said he will raise the issue during the Winter Session of Parliament beginning Monday.

Taking a jibe at Modi’s ‘Ek hain to safe hain’ slogan, Gandhi said as long as the Prime Minister and Adani are together ‘they are safe’ in India.

“The entire Opposition is together on the matter and will jointly raise the issue,” Gandhi said, adding that the Opposition’s demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe into the transactions of the Adani Group stands.

Accusing Modi of protecting Adani, the former Congress chief said, “The Prime Minister is clearly protecting him. It is my job to raise this issue. We want Adani to be arrested immediately... We want to show the country that Adani Ji will not be arrested because the Prime Minister is protecting him,” he said, adding, “Even after a scam of `2,000 crore, I guarantee he will neither be arrested nor will there be any probe against him.”

In retort, the BJP questioned the timing of the development, as it came just before the start of Parliament session and Donald Trump’s impending US presidency. The saffron party dubbed Gandhi’s attack as part of his long-running efforts to target the BJP leader.

Addressing a press conference, BJP spokesperson and MP Sambit Patra steered clear of the US justice department’s allegations against the infrastructure behemoth but accused the Opposition, particularly the Congress, of trying to target the Indian economy by making all kinds of allegations.

“Law will take its own course,” Patra said while keeping the focus on Gandhi’s allegations against the Prime Minister and the BJP government at the Centre. The BJP spokesperson cited investments of tens of thousands of crores of rupees by the Adani group, the ports-to-energy conglomerate, in states ruled by the Congress and its allies to question Gandhi over his party’s dealings with the behemoth when he calls the company’s boss “corrupt”.

Patra claimed that Gandhi’s allegations on Thursday fitted the pattern of him, his mother Sonia Gandhi and the Congress trying to tarnish Modi’s image since 2002, a reference to the communal riots in Gujarat when the BJP leader was the state’s chief minister, but in vain. If Adani is “corrupt”, then why are the Congress governments seeking investment from his company, the BJP leader asked.