Cong leader attacks govt over Adani issue, questions PM’s ‘silence’

Jammu, Feb 17 (PTI) Congress leader Harish Choudhary on Friday attacked the government over the Adani issue, and reiterated the party’s demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe in allegations against the group.

“Why is Prime Minister Modi silent over the issue? We question his silence over the demand of a JPC into the mega scam involving the hard-earned money of the crores of countrymen,” said Choudhary, the party affairs in-charge for Punjab and Chandigarh.

He said the Adani group share value fell by Rs 10,50,000 crore between January 15 and 24.

“The value of shares of Adani group purchased by the LIC was Rs 83,000 crore on September 30, 2022 which fall to Rs 39,000 crore on February 15, 2023 which means a loss of Rs 44,000 crores of the savings of 30 crore LIC policy-holders,” he said.

Despite all this, the Modi government “compelled” the LIC to invest an additional Rs 300 crore in the follow-on public offer (FPO) of the Adani enterprises, he said.

“On 19 July 2021, the finance ministry had admitted in the Parliament that the Adani group is under investigation on the charges of violations of the norms of SEBI but still the Adani Group was allowed a hike in the value of its shares in the market. The promoters of Adani group were also found to be involved in the share market fraud in the 2001 Khetan Darekh scam,” he added.