New Delhi: The BJP responded to Rahul Gandhi’s criticism of Prime Minister Narendra Modi following the indictment of Gautam Advani on charges of bribery and fraud, asserting that all the states indicted were governed by opposition parties at that time.
BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya said the states where officials were paid bribes allegedly by the Adani Group between July 2021 and February 2022 were Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh .
Later addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters, party spokesperson Sambit Patra dubbed Gandhi’s attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi as part of his long-running efforts to target his leader and noted that none of the four states named in American courts had a BJP government.
In his bid to distance BJP and the Central government from the Adani group, Patra made it clear that as far as allegations against the group are concerned it is for the company to issue a clarification and defend itself.
“Law will take its own course,” he said, while keeping the focus on Gandhi’s allegations against the prime minister and the BJP government at the Centre.
If Adani is “corrupt”, then why are the Congress governments seeking investment from his company, he asked.
Four Indian states’ names appeared before the US court. They were Odisha, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
“At that time, Bhupesh Baghel led the Congress government in Chhattisgarh. In Andhra Pradesh, it was the YSRCP government. In Tamil Nadu, it was the DMK government. In Odisha, it was the BJD government,” Patra said.
“…all four states named in the document neither had BJP CM nor a government supported by the saffron party. They all had governments of the Congress and other opposition parties” Patra added.
