The Congress party has reiterated its demand for an investigation into alleged tempos of illicit money that Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani of sending to the Congress in a campaign speech at Telangana’s Karimnagar on May 8. Jairam Ramesh, Congress’s general secretary (Communications), further emphasised the party’s resolve to ensure a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the relationship between the growth of Mr. Adani’s business empire and the Narendra Modi-led government, adding that the “incoming INDIA Government” will constitute one.
Mr. Ramesh on Sunday posted on X that the Indian National Congress has been calling for an investigation into alleged quid-pro-quo between the Narendra Modi-led government and the Adani Group — what it calls “the Modani scandal” — consistently since January this year. In the post, he said, “We also reiterate our demand that the PM investigate all tempos carrying illicit funds that are being sent, as he has alleged, from business groups such as Adani and Ambani. This includes making use of the investigative agencies that he has been so quick to deploy against the Opposition.” Mr. Ramesh alleged that the “now outgoing Prime Minister has enabled it [Adani] to make supernormal profits from overpriced coal imports and inflated electricity prices, become the main beneficiary of the Modi Sarkar’s privatisation mania, flout SEBI rules and regulations with impunity, and park Rs 20,000 crore of benami funds in shell companies, all involving dubious transactions with Chinese nationals”.
This comes after Mr. Modi, in the ongoing Lok Sabha campaign, for the first time, accused the two industrialists of sending tempo-loads of alleged illicit funds to the Congress, claiming that this is why Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had stopped speaking against them since the elections were announced. However, a fact-check soon revealed that Mr. Gandhi had spoken out against Mr. Modi’s alleged associations with the two industrialists just a day before the latter’s speech in Telangana. A cursory look at Mr. Gandhi’s campaign also revealed that in the week before Mr. Modi’s speech in Telangana, Mr. Gandhi had consistently brought up this point in campaign speeches he had delivered in Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh and Maharashtra.
