Congress party workers hold placards during a protest against Indian billionaire Gautam Adani in Delhi, after he was indicted by a court in US.
Credit: Reuters Photo
New Delhi: The indictment of Gautam Adani in the United States will add more fuel to power the I.N.D.I.A. bloc in Parliament ahead of Winter Session with the Opposition parties to pressure the Modi government to take strict action, including arrest, against the billionaire industrialist.
Already, senior leaders like Congress' Rahul Gandhi and CPI(M)'s Brinda Karat have demanded Adani's arrest while AAP's Sanjay Singh has claimed that then Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has stopped Adani from trying to enter Delhi's power sector.
The Opposition believes the latest episode will put pressure on the Supreme Court as well as regulatory bodies to act tough on Adani. Petitioners had so far not been able to impress upon the Supreme Court to take action against SEBI on the Adani matter following Hindenburg expose, with CPI(ML)L demanding that it suo moto take cognizance of the US indictment.
The US action vindicates Rahul's continuous campaign against Adani and linking him to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha has already made his intentions clear through a press conference that he would not step back and would take all steps to expose the nexus protecting the industrialist.
The Winter Session, starting next Monday, will witness Opposition targeting the Prime Minister and regulatory body SEBI in particular while a demand for a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) will find more voice on the floor of Parliament.
However, the Opposition will have to counter the BJP charge on Opposition-ruled states entering into deals with the Adani Group.
The Opposition will seek to point out "contracts pushed through at exorbitant rates in Maharashtra and Rajasthan in recent months", while declaring that the government is free to open any investigation but should first deal with Adani.
It will highlight countries like Kenya cancelling airport and power transmission projects allotted to Adani Group.
SEBI and its embattled chief Madhabi Puri Buch may face more ire from the Opposition with the CPI saying in a statement that the indictment "calls into question" the integrity of Indian watchdogs and administration under which “unethical practices are flourishing".
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said, "a comprehensive JPC, which not only investigates every aspect of the working of the Adani Group, the deliberate institutional erosion of the SEBI, SECI and government bodies, and the deals of Adani Group in foreign countries is the need of the hour."
Demanding a CBI probe, CPI(M) said in a statement that it is "shameful that such large-scale bribery and suborning of government officials by the Adanis had to be exposed not in India but in the United States" through their criminal justice system.
"Gautam Adani and his business empire have had the full protection of the Modi government to execute his unlawful and criminal activities. Prime Minister Modi himself had shielded Adani from any enquiry or prosecution on the charges emanating from the Hindenburg expose," it said.