Mumbai: The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) faced a major embarrassment on Thursday when Gautam Adani called on NCP chief Sharad Pawar at the latter's Silver Oak residence, Bhulabhai Desai Road, and was closetted with him for as long as two hours.
The confabulations between the two commenced at 10.00 a.m. and ended around noon. The Congress, a prime constituent of the MVA has been crying hoarse demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee inquiry into the affairs of the Adani group follwing an elaborate expose by the Hidenburg report.
Raut meets Adani
According to reports, Sanjay Raut, MP of the Shiv Sena (UBT) later met the controversial businessman who is accused by the national opposition parties of being nurtured by the Modi government. Pawar had initially opposed the need for a JPC probe since the Supreme Court was already seized of the matter. But, later he said he will go by what stance other opposition parties took in the interest of opposition unity. Senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan said his party will not flinch from its stand for a JPC probe. Interestingly, Pawar joined hands with the BJP in propssing the Nagaland government. The NCP is also contesting several seats in Karnataka which will result in the splitting of anti-BJP votes.
SC verdict on disqualification of Shinde's MLAs
Thursday's meeting was held in the background of the political churning taking place in Maharashtra in the past few days. In 2014 too, Adani had played a behind-the-scene role in helping the BJP form the government. Both Adani and Pawar were tight lipped. The meeting assumes significance in the context of reports about NCP leader Ajit Pawar planning to join the state government with several MLAs in tow and Eknath Shinde' Shiv Sena making it clear that it would pull out if any such development takes place. The meeting is also significant because the Supreme Court's verdict on the disqualification of Shinde's MLAs is expected to be delivered any day now. Apparently, Adani has been roped in by the BJP to ensure that it continues to remain in office irrespective of the SC verdict. Adani's proximity to PM Modi and Pawar Sr is well known.
Pawar's praises of Adani
Pawar had been a great admirer of Adani and has even praised the ace industrialist in his autobiography. Last June Adani was seen with Pawar sharing dais at inauguration of a science centre at Baramati. Pawar’s grandson Rohit, who is an MLA in Maharashtra Assembly had drove the ace industrialist from airport to the venue during that meet. On this backdrop, Adani is likely to have met Pawar to ensure continuation of support from the heavyweight political leader.
“Who meets whom is their prerogative. We don’t have any say in that. We can only speak about the demands that our party has raised. I can certainly say that our party is firm on Joint Parliamentary Committee to probe into Hindenburg report. We haven’t diluted our demand,” Chavan said.
