Centre ‘single-handedly’ working to help the Adani Group, says Congress

Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal questioned whether the Finance Minister was going to have a JPC inquiry into the charges against the Adani Group and SEBI chief Madhabi Buch

The Congress on Monday (December 16, 2024) accused the Union government of “single-handedly” working only to help the Adani Group and questioned as to what specific actions had been undertaken by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) to investigate alleged violations of stock manipulation and fraud by the industrial group.

Participating in a discussion on the Supplementary Demand for Grants in the Lok Sabha, Congress general secretary K.C. Venugopal said: “This Government is of Adani, By Adani and For Adani. That is the whole story of this scandal. The reports in the public domain havehighlighted the Adani Group for stock manipulation and accounting fraud.”

In a strong rebuttal, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said that the person who was being referred to again and again by the Congress MP was not made a crorepati by PM Modi.

“The person you are talking about again and again, Modi ji did not make him a crorepati, you made him a crorepati. We made unicorns... These port and airports have been given by you, don’t defame us,” Mr Rijiju said in his intervention.

‘There is an Adani port/terminal every 500 km’

Opening the debate from the Opposition side, Mr. Venugopal said: “According to the latest report, there is an Adani port/terminal every 500 kms along the country’s 7,516 km-long coastline. The company runs seven airports in the country.”

Levelling conflict of interest allegations against SEBI Chairperson Madhavi Buch, Mr. Venugopal said between 2017 and 2024, she allegedly received over ₹16.4 crore from ICICI bank while serving as a SEBI official regulating that bank. “This was five times her salary from SEBI, presenting a blatant conflict of interest,” he said.

He said that the SEBI Chairperson had personal stakes in offshore entities used in the Adani money scandal. “How she can investigate a scandal which she is part of? This is the greatest irony in this scandal.”

‘Govt.’s credibility tarnished’

The Congress MP questioned whether Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman was going to have a Joint Parliamentary Committee inquiry into all these charges.

He said that inaction on the part of the government undermined its claims of transparency and commitment to investor confidence.

“The finance minister’s failure to act decisively not only tarnished the credibility of the government but also jeopardised the national financial governance framework. What is the complicit interest of the government and the SEBI chairperson?”

Govt. caught in a pincer movement: Trinamool MP

Another Congress MP Manish Tewari said that the economy was running on the back of government capital expenditure. He cited figures to further say that economic parameters have declined in the Modi regime, compared to the UPA regime.

Trinamool Congress member Sougata Ray said the government was caught in a “pincer movement” of whether to push growth or control inflation. “There is a typical crisis in the economy. The crisis is our growth projection for Q2 slipped to 5.4 per cent. This is very damaging to the economy and there is a sharp slowdown in the manufacturing sector.”

Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) MP Supriya Sule asked the Finance Minister what steps the government had taken, especially with regard to job creation, inflation and increasing domestic consumption, and also to tackle the “alarming” 5.4 per cent GDP growth in the second quarter.

Published - December 16, 2024 09:45 pm IST