At Maharashtra poll rally, Rahul Gandhi asks why Gautam Adani was present at 2019 BJP-NCP meeting
In an interview with The News Minute and Newslaundry, Ajit Pawar had talked about Gautam Adani.
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Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi addresses at a public meeting ahead of Maharashtra Assembly polls, in Nanded, Thursday (PTI)Days after Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar claimed Gautam Adani was part of the government formation talks “five years ago”, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged Thursday that the industrialist was involved in the bringing down the MVA government to bag the Dharavi redevelopment project.
Ajit Pawar made the remarks in an interview with The News Minute and Newslaundry as he talked about his 2019 “rebellion” to form a government with the Bharatiya Janata Party before he returned to the Nationalist Congress Party.
Addressing a rally in the Nanded district in the Marathwada region on Thursday, Rahul Gandhi said, “Your government was snatched away from you… Don’t you think Narendra Modi was involved in that? Their own leader recently said that Adani was involved in the political meeting. Now, tell me why would Adani be present in a political meeting? It is because he wanted the Dharavi Redevelopment project.”
The Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha added that the current Maharashtra Government has given Adani a benefit of Rs 1 lakh crore.
In the interview, Ajit Pawar also reiterated his claim that he acted with full knowledge of Sharad Pawar in going with the BJP at the time, and that he followed his leader as “a party worker”.
In 2019, the BJP and Shiv Sena had fallen out after the Maharashtra Assembly election results over the question of chief ministership. In the vacuum that followed, Ajit Pawar, then a part of the united NCP, had sprung up by the side of BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis and offered support.
In a controversial early morning swearing-in ceremony, Ajit took oath as the deputy chief minister and Fadnavis as CM. But within 80 hours, the government had fallen, with Ajit returning to the NCP and Sharad Pawar.
In the works for more than two decades, the Dharavi redevelopment project aims to transform the sprawling urban slum in the heart of Mumbai into a “modern urban locality” with high-rise towers and state-of-the-art infrastructure, and relocate its current residents to areas across the city.
The Maharashtra government handed over the project to Adani Realty, whose Rs 5,069 crore offer outbid the DLF group’s proposal of Rs 2,025 crore, in November 2022.
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