PM goes mum on Oppn's questions about Adani in RS too

Congress and other parties have been asking the PM to respond to allegations of favouritism probe today towards the Adani Group. Instead, he made a jibe at Rahul's 'Gandhi' surname, slammed the Gandhis for adopting 'tokenism' and more...

NT Correspondent

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi continued his attack on the Opposition parties particularly the Congress for targeting his government on the Adani crash row but carefully sidestepped any reference to the pertinent questions raised by opposition leaders including his alleged proximity to Gautam Adani and the reported favours doled out to the mega business group.

Since 2014 when Modi first became PM, Adani has shot up from around 600th place on the global rich list to the second spot with reports doing the rounds that he owes his dizzy rise to the patronage of the BJP and more particularly PM Modi.

The opposition parties have been demanding a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) into the Adani controversy saying the savings of millions of investors is at stake. They have been insisting that a probe is all the more needed as public sector behemoths like LIC and several banks have huge exposure to the embattled business group running into several thousand crores and so the savings of millions of investors could be at risk.

But on Thursday, the PM, like he did in his address in the Lok Sabha, stayed away from addressing any of the concerns raised on his alleged relationship with the Adani Group while speaking in the Rajya Sabha. He instead accused the opposition ranks of putting India’s economic health in jeopardy by construing controversies for political gain.

“In a democracy, there could be differences, arguments between political parties. But please do not play with the nation’s economic health to suit your political interests,” the prime minister said towards the very end of his speech. The opposition, too, didn’t let his nearly 90-minute speech go off smoothly raising slogans like “Modi-Adani bhai bhai (Modi-Adani brothers-in-arms)”, or “Band karo yeh jhootha bhashan (Stop the lie-peddling speech)” and clamoured for a JPC.

If on Wednesday, it was Rahul Gandhi the PM had in his sights, on Thursday, he targeted Mallikarjun Kharge, the Congress president, who is also the leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha.

Throughout his speech, the prime minister compared his government with the Congress regimes and said that President’s rule was imposed “356 times” by the Congress, out of which 50 were during Indira Gandhi’s tenure.He also took a dig at Rahul Gandhi for not using Nehru’s surname.

With the Prime Minister or his party leaders not answering any of the questions raised by the opposition or responding to the demand for a full-fledged probe, the opposition strategy on the Adani row –both inside parliament and outside will be keenly watched in the days to come.