NEW DELHI: Congress on Wednesday debunked
PM Modi
’s charge that
Rahul Gandhi
has not been attacking
Ambani
and
Adani
during these elections because of a deal, circulating a video with snippets of Rahul’s speeches between May 2 and the one he delivered in Jharkhand on Tuesday, where he highlighted the PM’s “nexus” with Adani and Ambani.
In a video issued Wednesday, Gandhi himself challenged the PM to send agencies to probe his own allegations that Ambani-Adani had sent crores to Congress.
“Modiji, are you scared? Normally, you speak of Adani-Ambani in closed rooms. For the first time, you have taken their names in public. You even know that they send money in tempos, is that your personal experience? Send
CBI-ED
to them, get an inquiry done as soon as possible,” Rahul said in the message, hours after Modi made the surprise attack.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge joined in the counter-attack and said the PM had turned on his friends because of his fear of imminent defeat in elections.
“Since April 3, Rahul Gandhi has mentioned Adani 103 times and Ambani more than 30 times in his speeches,” Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said. He added that Congress had repeatedly demanded the formation of a joint parliamentary committee to investigate the “Modani scam” since Jan last year.
Rushing to her brother’s defence, Priyanka Gandhi said, “The PM might be saying that Rahul does not take the name of Adani and Ambani, but the fact is that he (Rahul) does so every day. On the contrary, I feel the PM is giving a lot of clarifications these days. After all, he has given the nation’s wealth to billionaires. Airports, ports, roads or mines, you name it, and it is gone.”
Kharge said Modi’s attack on his “own friends” was the best opinion poll on the first three phases of elections. “Time is changing... A friend is no more a friend. After completion of three phases of elections, the PM has started attacking his own friends,” he said.
Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal called the PM’s statement “laughable” and one that further “confirms his desperation after the drubbing in phase three”. He shared a video clip from Rahul’s speech on Tuesday in which the latter says, “You have to decide whether you want to make a govt of Modi and Adani or a govt of farmers, poor, tribals, Dalits and marginalised.”
English (US) ·