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‘Agree to JPC probe’: Jairam Ramesh on Amit Shah’s ‘nothing to hide’ remark
Jairam Ramesh stressed that the Congress was in favour of liberalisation, but this should be on the basis of rules and institutions which should function independently
NEW DELHI: The Congress on Tuesday responded to Union home minister Amit Shah’s assertion that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has “nothing to hide or be afraid of” on the controversy over the Adani group, saying the ruling party should then accept its demand to set up a joint parliamentary committee to probe allegations of fraud by the Adani Group.
Asked about the ongoing Hindenburg Adani row, Shah told news agency ANI in an interview that it was not proper for him to comment on the matter since the Supreme Court is already seized of the matter. “But in this, there is nothing for the BJP to hide and nothing to be afraid of,” Shah said.
Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh responded on Tuesday to Shah’s assertion. “If they do not have anything to hide, why are they running away from a Joint Parliamentary Committee (probe),” he asked at a media briefing.
“They do not even allow us to raise the demand of the JPC in Parliament. When our leaders, including party president Mallikarjun Kharge ji, raised the demand for JPC, their remarks were expunged,” Jairam Ramesh said a day after the first half of the Budget Session of Parliament concluded amid bitter exchanges between the government and the Opposition over the Hindenburg Adani row.
American short-seller Hindenburg released a report on January 24 that accused the Gautam Adani Group of “brazen accounting fraud” and “stock manipulation”. The group rejected the report as “unresearched” and “maliciously mischievous” but it triggered a massive rout of the group’s stocks.
Jairam Ramesh stressed that the Congress was in favour of liberalisation, but this should be on the basis of rules and institutions which should function independently so that the rules can be applied in an impartial and transparent manner. “We have always said we are in favour of entrepreneurship and that is the way forward for economic development. We are against blind privatisation and selling of PSUs,” he said.
He stressed that the party was seeking an investigation against Adani and its ties with the government. “Our fight is against crony capitalism”, he added.
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