Congress looks to corner NDA on Adani row, but allies flag poll worry

The Congress is in touch with allies to launch a united attack on the Narendra Modi government over the Adani bribery allegations.

The Congress is in touch with allies to launch a united attack on the Narendra Modi government over the Adani bribery allegations but some of its partners believe that an adverse showing in the Maharashtra and Jharkhand polls might give the Bharatiya Janata Party an edge to counter the Opposition.

Congress party workers protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and billionaire businessman Gautam Adani in Kolkata on Friday. (AFP)

A floor leader of Trinamool Congress, one of the largest parties in the INDIA group, met a top Congress strategist on Friday to discuss the plans for the winter session of Parliament that starts from Monday. On Thursday, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi demanded Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani’s arrest and a probe after US prosecutors indicted Adani Group companies, its chief Gautam Adani, and seven others for allegedly orchestrating a $265 million ( ₹2,029 crore) scheme to bribe Indian officials in order to secure green energy supply deals.

Assembly election results will be released on Saturday.

A senior Congress leader told HT that the Opposition’s strategy on the issue will be three-pronged. “We will demand a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the various charges against the Adani group and pressurise the government to remove Sebi chief Madhabi Buch. We will seek the PM’s reply on the latest allegations and organise major protests both inside and outside Parliament on both the Adani issue and to remove Sebi chief Buch.”

The Congress leader added that it expected support from Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (SP), Aam Aadmi Party, and the Left parties. But some of the other parties were less vocal than the Congress over the latest charges against the group. Rashtriya Janata Dal’s official Twitter handle did not post a single tweet on the issue even as its senior Rajya Sabha leader Manoj Kumar Jha retweeted some news on the Adani group on Thursday.

Trinamool Congress too, refrained from any official remarks or tweets on the issue. The party’s firebrand MP Mahua Moitra, however, was vocal. “Modi and his Gujju cronies have made India Inc. look like a bunch of chors and thugs. Terrible for our credibility in global markets. Can any large business house now have the guts to speak up?,” she tweeted on Friday.

Rahul Gandhi, however, maintained that the “INDIA alliance is united on this issue and we are working systematically” and had assured to raise this issue in Parliament.

“We are going to raise this issue. It is my responsibility as LoP to raise this issue. PM is 100% protecting this man (Adani) and this man fully supports BJP. We will reiterate the demand for a JPC. But we want Adani to be arrested. And we want to show that Adani will not be arrested as the Indian PM is standing behind him and protecting him. PM and a network—people in different positions—have hijacked India,” Gandhi said in his press conference on Thursday.

When told about how the Opposition’s demands had not been met so far, Gandhi said, “It is not that nothing has happened. PM’s credibility has been destroyed. But what we have done very successfully is that Adani and Modi are the same thing; Modi is corrupt and Adani is his bag man. We will find many people in this network and will expose them. Indians will know who are the people who have hijacked the country. This structure is going to collapse. This is a testament to what we have been saying.”

One key Opposition leader, however, underlined that if the BJP-led NDA is able to secure both Maharashtra and Jharkhand, “It will definitely give them a political advantage to tackle our protests. The electoral popularity, after its surprise victory in Haryana, can help BJP politically thwart the Opposition’s charges.”

A Congress floor manager, however, maintained that election results will not dampen the Opposition onslaught against the Modi government on the Adani issue. “US prosecutors have charged Adani and his associates of $265 million bribery. On Monday we will corner the government on this issue.”