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In an interview to Adani-owned NDTV, Sharad Pawar questioned the credentials and motives of the international shortseller (Hindenburg) whose claim that Adani Group’s stocks were overvalued due to alleged manipulation by the promoters and others, triggered a crash in their share prices eroding their networth and forcing them to abandon their plans to raise funds as well as expansion. “And these issues which were raised, who brought them forward. . . what was their background, it was important to assess this. A price had to be paid for this by the country’s economy. This cannot be ignored. It seems they (Adani Group) were being targeted,” Pawar said.
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Adani row: Opposition holds protest in Parliament demanding JPC probe
‘Call for JPC bid to keep row festering’
The Hindenburg report was seized upon by Congress and others to attack the Modi government for its alleged patronage of the Adanis. NCP veteran, Sharad Pawar, who had earlier asked Rahul Gandhi not to attack Hindutva proponent VD Savarkar, also opposed the demand for a JPC inquiry, saying it would serve no purpose. The clamour for it by Congress and others, he said, may have been motivated by a desire to keep the allegations festering.
He also disapproved of the targeting of Ambani-Adani by Rahul, saying the corporates had contributed to the petrochemical and energy sectors, respectively, and were being targeted only because people wanted to attack the government. Saying that disparagement of big business was reminiscent of what Tata-Birla had to endure earlier, he said: “Today, Ambani has contributed to the petrochemical sector, doesn’t the country need it? In the field of electricity, Adani has contributed. Does the country not need electricity? These are the people who take up such responsibilities and work for the name of the country. If they have done wrong, you a ttack, but they have created this infrastructure, to criticise them does not feel right to me.”
Although he acknowledged that others in the opposition had also supported the demand for JPC, the interview marked a blow to Congress’s plan to use the Hindenburg report to target PM Narendra Modi and BJP.
Pawar questioned the need for a JPC probe when the Supreme Court had already set up a committee comprising an expert administrator and an economist under a retired SC judge. “If a parliamentary committee is appointed, then monitoring is with the governing party. The demand was against the ruling party, and if the committee appointed for an inquiry has a ruling party majority, then how will the truth come out, is a valid concern,” Pawar pointed out.
Asked by NDTV about Congress’ insistence on a JPC probe, Pawar endorsed the conviction in the ruling party quarters that the pitch could be a device to keep the Adani pot boiling. “Maybe the reasoning (of Congress and others in the opposition) could have been that once a JPC starts, its proceedings are reported in the media on a daily basis. Perhaps someone would have wanted the issue to fester for two to four months, but the truth would have never come out,” he said.
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