Mumbai: Noted industrialist Gautam Adani (62) is finding himself at the centre of a political storm related to the Maharashtra assembly elections slated for November 20. Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been routinely targeting him and accusing him of close proximity to the BJP. On Monday, he took his campaign to another level by flaunting at a presser a picture of Adani with PM Modi.
The irony is that Sharad Pawar, senior leader of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), himself is a self-acknowledged close friend of Adani. "It is strange that Gandhi is objecting to Adani's ties with Modi, but is okay with the industrialist's close friendship with Pawar. Will the Congress have the guts to pull out of the MVA because of Pawar's connections with Adani? The hypocrisy of Gandhi is completely exposed," a senior BJP leader observed.
The BJP hit back promptly at Gandhi with its general secretary Vinod Tawde releasing pictures of Adani with Robert Vadra, brother in law of Rahul Gandhi, Shashi Tharoor and several others of the Congress. Tawde said Gandhi was deliberately setting a false narrative by making it appear that Adani owed his success to the BJP.
He said much of the growth of Adani began when Rajiv Gandhi and the Congress were in power. He pointed out that the Congress government in Telangana led by Revanna Reddy had signed a business deal worth Rs 12,400 cr with Adani, while the erstwhile Ashok Gehlot government of the Congress in Rajasthan had entered into a solar agreement worth Rs 46,000 cr with Adani.
Importantly, Tawde noted that it was the MVA under the chief ministership of Uddhav Thackeray which had awarded Dighi port in the Konkan to Adani for Rs 705 cr. The then minister for ports was Aslam Sheikh who belonged to the Congress.
Tawde also slammed Rahul Gandhi's opposition to the Dharavi redevelopment project. He said the project was visualised as a game-changer for the whole of Mumbai. He said the Congress did not wish to see Dharavikars settled in pucca homes and wanted them to continue to live in harrowing conditions. He said the process for the redevelopment of the mega slum was initiated when Uddhav Thackeray was the chief minister.
A few days ago, Adani unwittingly found himself at the centre of a storm when deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar disclosed that Adani, Sharad Pawar, Devendra Fadnavis and others were present at a meeting when it was decided that a government helmed by Fadnavis and himself (Ajit Pawar) should be formed soon after the 2019 assembly polls.
Several businessmen spoken to by the FPJ said it was near impossible to grow in India without political patronage.
