‘Tarnishes our image’: Cong chief Kharge demands JPC probe after US indicts Gautam Adani

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge called for an investigation into the functioning of the Adani Group and the role of government regulators.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge demanded a comprehensive Joint Parliament Committee (JPC) probe into all aspects of the Adani group's functioning, including its foreign investments, to investigate and dismantle the alleged nexus of billionaires, bureaucrats and “certain politicians”.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge.(HT_PRINT)

Kharge's demand comes after US federal prosecutors alleged that Adani Green bribed government officials in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, and possibly Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, and Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), to get their power distribution companies (discoms) to commit to purchasing solar power at above market rates.

The Adani group denied the charges, saying the allegations were baseless and the conglomerate complies with all laws.

Kharge said the alleged indictment of a “top-ranking Indian businessman by a foreign country” tarnishes India's image on the global stage. He also linked the charges as the result of the central government's alleged policy of creating monopolies.

“The Indian National Congress has been continuously objecting to unethical business practices which profiteer and promote certain individuals by implementing Modi Govt’s policy of creating monopolies in key sectors and concentrating wealth in the hands of few by giving undue favours,” wrote Kharge in a post on X.

The Congress president also called for an investigation into the “nexus involving cronies, compromised bureaucrats and certain politicians” allegedly created by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and industrialist Gautam Adani.

“This nexus severely hurts our people - poor and middle class, aspiring entrepreneurs, MSMEs, Startups and crores of small and medium retail investors, for it widens inequalities by snatching savings and opportunities,” Kharge added.

He also echoed Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi's call that the investigation should begin with the group's founder, Gautam Adani. “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,” Kharge's post read.

The Congress leader added that only such steps could reduce economic inequalities and enable a conducive environment for a free market economy that ignites the “spirit entrepreneurship for all”.