The indictment of Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani by the US Department of Justice has given ammunition to the opposition parties to attack the Modi government. However, in desperation to establish their narrative that somehow Adani is corrupt because the US said so and PM Modi is also involved, Congress spokesperson Ajay Verma invited embarrassment and ridicule to his party on National television.
During a debate program on the Adani indictment issue on Doordarshan News on 21st November, Congress spokesperson Ajay Verma tried to push the opposition’s narrative that PM Modi and Gautam Adani are ‘very close’. To do so, the Congress spokesperson showed a picture on his mobile phone to the Television screen, which he thought was of Gautam Adani and PM Modi. However, the debate panellists were in splits as it turned to a picture of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s husband Robert Vadra with Adani. Appearing as a guest on the debate OnlyFact India’s founder Vijay Patel said, “This photo is with Jija Ji (Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s brother-in-law,) not Modiji”.
Congress leader exposing brother in law of Rahul Gandi in the show of @RheemaParashar Ji😂
— Vijay Patel🇮🇳 (@vijaygajera) November 21, 2024
CC: @zoo_bear 🤡 pic.twitter.com/uKGsFTpwHW
The Adani-Vadra photo mistakenly shown by Verma was taken in 2009, when Robert Vadra visited Adani’s port and SEZ in Mundra shortly after the UPA government returned to power. As per an HT report, Vadra’s visit was facilitated by a union minister, who was close to the Adani group.
Notably, Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani and seven other executives had been accused in connection with an alleged plot to bribe Indian officials. US authorities claim that $250 million (Rs 2100 crore) in bribes were paid to certain Indian officials in exchange for preferential terms on solar power contracts obtained by Adani Green Energy Ltd and Azure Power Global Ltd.
While the Congress party and the leftist ecosystem have already believed and are passing off the US Justice Department’s ‘allegations’ against Adanis as proven truth, the US Department of Justice has accused Gautam Adani of bribing Indian government officials in various state governments between the years 2021 to 2022, of which not a single state was ruled by Modi’s Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP). In fact, all the states mentioned in the indictment document were ruled by the anti-BJP parties at that time. In Tamil Nadu, I.N.D.I. Alliance partner DMK was and continues to be in power, in Odisha Biju Janata Dal (BJD) was in power, in Chhattisgarh Congress was in power, and in Andhra Pradesh, YSR Congress Party was in power between Jul 2021 and Feb 2022.
It is pertinent to mention Rahul Gandhi’s fixation with businessman Gautam Adani. Not a day goes by when the Gandhi scion does not say something slandering the businessman and accuses PM Modi of crony capitalism. The Gandhi scion and Congress party has over the last few years gone all out to implicate Adani as a partner in crime with PM Modi. In this line, he even coined terms like ‘Modani’ and claimed that PM Modi is ‘employed’ by Gautam Adani. The Congress party, however, fails to explain that if they are so convinced that Gautam Adani is corrupt and the Modi government treats him favourably, why the Congress government in Telangana signed four MoUs worth Rs 12,400 crore with the Adani group at the sideline of the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2024 in Davos, Switzerland.