BJP distances itself from India's Adani amid opposition protests
Indian Premier Narendra Modi's party BJP said it had no reason to defend billionaire Gautam Adani on Tuesday following his US indictment over alleged bribery to secure power deals in India.
The opposition Congress party has accused Narendra Modi and the BJP of shielding Adani and blocking independent probes into his business activities. These allegations have been consistently denied by the ruling party. Congress has also intensified its demands for a parliamentary investigation, staging protests across the country.
US prosecutors have charged Gautam Adani, founder of the Adani Group, his nephew Sagar Adani, and six others in connection with a $265 million scheme to bribe Indian officials for power supply contracts in five regions. The Adani Group has rejected the accusations, labeling them “baseless” and vowing to explore all legal avenues to challenge the charges.
'We have no involvement in this matter and nothing to defend,' BJP spokesperson Gopal Krishna Agarwal stated. 'Let him [Adani] address the allegations himself. While we value industrialists as partners in national development, the law will take its course if any wrongdoing is found.'
The US indictment alleges that Adani and his associates bribed unnamed Indian officials to secure solar power contracts in Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, and Andhra Pradesh, as well as in the federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir, during 2021 and 2022.
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