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Journalism of Courage
A day after he distanced himself from the Congress’s demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into short-selling firm Hindenburg’s report on the Adani Group, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday stuck to his stand by saying that a Supreme Court-appointed committee would be more fruitful than the JPC. He also discarded the possibility of cracks in Opposition unity, saying that when several parties come together, they may have different opinions on certain issues.
“When several parties come together, there is bound to be different opinions. A similar thing happened on the (V D) Savarkar issue when we had met at Mallikarjun Kharge’s house. I expressed my position on it and the issue was solved. Similarly, discussions can take place where different opinions can be voiced,” he said.
“I don’t know who claims this (that there is no Opposition unity). I have only kept my views and that is it,” he said. When asked further about his praise of Gautam Adani, Pawar said that he did not praise Adani but stated facts.
Pawar had said on Friday that he believed the Adani Group was being “targeted” by unknown entities whose motives he questioned.
On Saturday, when asked about the allegations of irregularities worth Rs 20,000 crore by the Congress, Pawar said that he has no knowledge about the same. “I don’t know about this. I won’t speak about it until I have all the details,” he said.
The Congress led by Rahul Gandhi has been consistently raising allegations regarding stock manipulation by the Adani Group in the Hindenburg report. The recent Budget session of Parliament was almost washed out as the Opposition, including the NCP, came together to raise the Adani issue.
Rahul has also alleged that his disqualification as an MP following his conviction in a defamation case was linked to the questions he has been asking the government on the matter.
The NCP has been an ally of the Congress in Maharashtra since 1999 and both are part of the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which ran a government in Maharashtra before it was toppled last year.
On the Congress’s demand for a JPC probe into the Adani issue, Pawar reiterated his earlier statement on the Supreme Court setting up a probe panel. The court had appointed a committee with a retired Supreme Court judge, an expert, an administrator, and an economist, and given them a timeframe to conduct an inquiry.
The NCP chief reiterated that the JPC will have a majority of ruling party members and at a time when the allegations are against the ruling party, then it will not serve any purpose. “If the Supreme Court has announced an inquiry, then there is a better chance of the truth coming to light,” he said.
Pawar said that in today’s time, the most pressing issues are unemployment, price rise and farmers’ plight. “These three major issues need to be highlighted by us as an Opposition,” he said.
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