BJP says Congress 'trying to damage economy as Oppn demands JPC probe

The bribes were reportedly aimed at securing overpriced solar power contracts

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As the Adani group came under cloud, the BJP on Thursday targeted the Congress over its attack on the Centre after US prosecutors charged industrialist Gautam Adani with bribery and fraud, saying all the states mentioned in the indictment were at that time ruled by Opposition parties.

It also accused the Congress of trying to attack the Indian market to make it tank and damage the Indian economy.

BJP's IT department head Amit Malviya also questioned the timing of the development, as it came when Parliament's winter session is scheduled to begin on November 25 and Donald Trump's impending presidency in the US.

Malviya said this raises several questions. "That the Congress is willing to be a prop in the hands of George Soros and his cabal speaks volumes," he said on X in reply to Congress leader Jairam Ramesh's claim that the indictment vindicates the Congress's demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) investigation into the various "Modani scams". Citing from the US federal prosecutors' indictment, Malviya said the states where government officials were paid bribes allegedly by the Adani Group were Odisha,

Continued from Page 1 amil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Andhra 2021 and February 2022.

While Odisha and Andhra Pradesh were then ruled by the BJD and the YSR Congress, two regional parties unaffiliated to either the ruling or the Opposition alliance at that time, the Congress ally DMK was and remains in power in Tamil Nadu. The Congress was in power in Chhattisgarh.

Malviya said the charges in the indictment are allegations and the defendants are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty. An Indian court, the BJP leader said, can similarly on legitimate grounds accuse American firms of bribing US government officials to deny access to Indian markets.