STATE TIMES NEWS
NEW DELHI: The BJP on Thursday slammed Rahul Gandhi’s attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the US prosecutors’ indictment of Gautam Adani on alleged bribery and fraud charges as part of his long-running efforts to target its leader and noted that none of the four states named in American courts had a BJP government.
Addressing a press conference, BJP spokesperson and MP Sambit Patra steered clear of the US Justice Department’s allegations against the infrastructure behemoth, saying it is for the company to give an explanation and defend itself.
“Law will take its own course,” he said while keeping the focus on Gandhi’s allegations against the prime minister and the BJP government at the Centre.
Patra also pointed out that four states — Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh Tamil Nadu — where government functionaries were allegedly paid bribes of over USD 250 million to secure favourable deals, were ruled by non-BJP parties during the period mentioned in the indictment.
While the Congress and its ally were in power in Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu, the YSR Congress and the BJD, two regional parties unaffiliated to either the ruling or the opposition alliance nationally, ruled Andhra Pradesh and Odisha then, respectively.
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 Rahul Gandhi over his party’s dealings with the behemoth when he calls its boss Gautam Adani “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.
Rahul Gandhi alleged corruption in the Rafale deal in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and had also gone after the Central government over the Covid vaccines issue, he said, noting the Supreme Court had dismissed the bribery charges in the procurement of the fighter jet.
Instead of levelling allegations in press conferences, Gandhi should move courts and lodge cases if he believes that there was any wrongdoing, Patra said.
He noted the BJP had repeatedly moved courts and received favourable judgments in its demand for an investigation into the charges of corruption against the previous Congress-led UPA government.
The prime minister received the highest civilian award in a foreign country on a day the opposition party was attacking him, the BJP leader said.
Gandhi had claimed in his press conference that the opposition had been successful in destroying Modi’s credibility over his alleged proximity to the business tycoon.
Citing the Adani group’s investment in various states ruled by the Congress and its allies, Patra noted that it invested Rs 25,000 crore and Rs 65,000 crore in Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan when Bhupesh Baghel and Ashok Gehlot were at the helm there, respectively.
The conglomerate invested Rs 45,000 crore in the DMK-ruled Tamil Nadu and had recently given Rs 100 crore donation to Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy for a skill development foundation, he added.
If Adani is “corrupt”, then why are the Congress governments seeking investment from his company, the BJP leader asked.
The billionaire industrialist and his nephew are among those charged by US prosecutors for allegedly paying bribes to Indian officials and duping investors.
This was concealed from the US banks and investors from whom the Adani group raised billions of dollars for the project, the prosecutors have alleged. US law allows pursuing foreign corruption allegations if they involve certain links to American investors or markets.
The Adani group, however, has denied the charges.
The Congress, Patra alleged, cannot tolerate the Indian economy gaining in strength with Modi as prime minister, as it is now on track to become the third biggest global economy.
Rahul Gandhi has been trying to target the Indian economy by making all kinds of allegations and over 2.5 crore investors lost a lot of money as the stock market tanked on Thursday, he said.
The Congress leader targeted the government over the alleged corruption in the Rafale aircraft deal and had also gone after it over the issue of Covid vaccines, he added.
Patra also objected to Gandhi’s claim that his party has to do the job of the judiciary as well, saying it amounted to contempt of court. Gandhi does not understand the legalities and technicalities around an issue and merely repeats what he is briefed by a few advisors, he added.
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha will now start a “drama” when Parliament’s Winter session begins on November 25 and try to disrupt its proceedings and target the economy, Patra claimed.
Hitting back at Gandhi’s allegations that India has been hijacked by a cabal, he said the country was hijacked when the Congress was in power but it is now sailing along smoothly under Modi’s leadership.
It is he and his mother Sonia Gandhi who are on bail in a corruption case, Patra said, referring to the National Herald case in which Congress leaders have been accused of misappropriating assets of a trust linked to their party.