Team Herald
PANJIM: As the ripples of Gautam Adani’s indictment by the US Department of Justice over bribes to Indian officials to the tune of $250 million continued to be felt across Indian politics, the Congress and BJP Goa units traded barbs and blame on Friday.
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Congress on Friday demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the Adani bribery case after the Security Exchange Commission (SEC) of the USA issued an arrest warrant against Gautam Adani. For its part, the BJP pointed out that the states where the alleged bribes were given — Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, and Andhra Pradesh — were governed by Opposition parties during the period in question (July 2021 to February 2022).
Addressing a press conference, Goa Congress President Amit Patkar said, “Bribes were given to the officials to get the contracts in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Jammu and Kashmir and Odisha. Ironically, some of them are ruled by Opposition parties. Even recently a contract has been given in Rajasthan and Maharashtra on similar patterns.”
“After the revelation neither the government nor the Prime Minister has commented. The reason is that this is directly linked with him,” he alleged. He demanded that a JPC be constituted to conduct a detailed investigation into the bribery charges.
The Congress President alleged that while the government is arresting chief ministers of opposition-ruled states on the charges of corruption, it is not arresting a businessman who is accused of paying Rs 2,000 crore as bribe.
Stating that silence of Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) Madhabi Buch raises questions, he said the incident will scare foreign investors and they will hesitate to investment in the country.
“Modi government should arrest Adani immediately in view of the serious charge levelled against him. Rs 2000 crore is not a small amount. If Adani is not arrested, then it will prove that there is a direct link between him and Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” Patkar said.
Adani group invested crores in
Cong-ruled States: BJP
PANJIM: Deflecting the barrage of fire from the Opposition over the Adani bribery case, the Goa BJP on Friday took on the Congress, saying that investments worth crores had been made by the Adani group in States ruled by Congress and other Opposition parties.
“The Adani Group invested Rs 25,000 crore in Chhattisgarh and Rs 65,000 crore in Rajasthan when Bhupesh Baghel and Ashok Gehlot were in power. Similarly, the conglomerate invested Rs 45,000 crore in DMK-ruled Tamil Nadu and recently contributed Rs 100 crore to Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy for a skill development foundation. If Adani is indeed ‘corrupt’, as the Congress alleges, why are Congress-ruled governments actively seeking investments from his company?” asked Goa BJP spokesperson Giriraj Pai Verneker.
He also claimed that the states which saw the alleged bribery — Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, and Andhra Pradesh — were governed by the Opposition parties during the period in question (July 2021 to February 2022). “All four states named in the document neither had chief ministers from our party nor governments supported by us. These States were under the leadership of Congress and its allies during the period,” he said.
Verneker said in a statement that as far as allegations against the Adani Group were concerned, it was “for the company to issue clarifications and defend itself”.
