On Wednesday, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma challenged Congress’ leader and former MP Rahul Gandhi to raise questions about NCP Supremo Sharad Pawar and Business tycoon Gautam Adani’s relations. He asked if Gandhi, who tweeted about him being friends with Adani, had the guts to question Sharad Pawar over his friendship with the businessman.
The Assam CM was speaking at the third edition of the Republic Summit 2023 in New Delhi. Recalling Gandhi’s tweet in which he had alleged that Sarma was friends with Adani, the Assam CM said, “So, these people do politics of convenience. You tweeted about Adani and BJP but when Gautam Adani sits at Sharad’s house for two-three hours, then why did Gandhi don’t tweet about it?”
“Rahul Gandhi tweeted that we are Gautam Adani’s friends. If it was possible, then I would have considered myself lucky. I don’t know him but unfortunately, North East people would take time to reach Adani, Ambani, and TATA. We are trying to reach there but does Rahul have the guts to tweet about Sharad Pawar and his friendship with Adani, ‘Pawar ji, what are your relations with Adani?'” he pondered.
#HimantaAtRepublicSummit | Assam has changed a lot after 2014. Peace has returned and northeast has been brought into the mainstream. Perception related to northeast has changed: CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, the man on a mission at #RepublicSummithttps://t.co/VK2FJ8EHLl pic.twitter.com/s5o0XTZ23f
— Republic (@republic) April 26, 2023
On April 9, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma had said that he would move to court against former MP Rahul Gandhi over his recent ‘Adani’ tweet linking some ex-Congress leaders, including Sarma, with the Adani Group.
“They hide the truth, that’s why they mislead everyday! The question remains the same – who has ₹20,000 crore benami money in Adani’s companies?” the Congress leader had tweeted. Additionally, he stated that Sarma had financial stakes in the Gautam Adani-led enterprise, along with Ghulam Nabi Azad, Jyotiraditya Scindia, Kiran Reddy, and Anil Antony.
It was our decency to have never asked you, on where have you concealed the proceeds of crime from the Bofors and National Herald Scams.
— Himanta Biswa Sarma (@himantabiswa) April 8, 2023
And how you allowed Ottavio
Quattrocchi to escape the clutches of Indian justice multiple times .
Any way we will meet in the Court of Law https://t.co/a9RGErUN1A
The Assam CM then had slammed Gandhi by saying, “It was our decency to have never asked you, on where have you concealed the proceeds of crime from the Bofors and National Herald Scams. And how you allowed Ottavio Quattrocchi to escape the clutches of Indian justice multiple times. Anyway, we will meet in the Court of Law.”
On April 20, Industrialist Gautam Adani met Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar at his Mumbai residence ‘Silver Oak’ and the meeting lasted for around 2 hours. The said meeting had become a talk of the town as it stood amid the intense speculation over Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar joining hands with the BJP.
The meeting also followed the episode in which the NCP supremo had defended Adani over the Hindenburg report controversy, though the Congress and the other opposition parties continued to attack the businessman.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi in the parliament during the budget session questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s relationship with Gautam Adani after the Hindenburg report alleged that the Indian giant had participated in a clear stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over decades.
During the budget discussion, the opposition urged to form a joint parliamentary committee to look into the accusations made against Adani. The session finished on April 6, but the following day, Pawar told Gautam Adani-owned NDTV in an interview that the demand for a JPC was impractical because the Supreme Court was still hearing the matter.
Pawar’s NCP is in a coalition with the Congress and Uddhav Thackeray’s Sena in Maharashtra. While Pawar defended Adani over the Hindenburg report, Rahul Gandhi and Uddhav Thackeray remain firm over their demand for a JPC probe.
