In a direct attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that the Central government was favouring only one corporate, Adani Group, 'who gets all the contracts, including the overseas ones'.
"Earlier he used to travel in Adani's aircraft and now Adani travels with Modiji in his aircraft. First the matter was limited to Gujarat then the country and now he has become international," Gandhi said on Motion of Thanks to the President's Address.
He alleged, "The Prime Minister went to Australia and by magic, SBI gave a $1 billion loan to Adani. The PM goes to Bangladesh and then the power development board of the country signs a 25-year contract with Adani."
"How much money Adani gave to the BJP in the last 20 years," Rahul Gandhi asked. He alleged that the Chairman of Sri Lanka electricity board in 2022 informed the Sri Lankan parliamentary committee "that he was told by President Rajapaksa that 'he was pressured by Prime Minister Modi' to give the wind power project to Mr Adani".
"This is not India's foreign policy. It is the policy for Adani's business." He alleged that during the Bharat Jodo Yatra people asked him how one person, Adani's worth increased from USD 8 billion to USD 140 billion between 2014 and 2022 and what is his relationship with the Prime Minister.
"During 'Bharat Jodo Yatra', we heard people's voices while we also kept our voices. We talked to children, women, and the elderly during the yatra. We asked the youth about their jobs... Many said they are unemployed or drive Uber.
Farmers talked about not getting money under PM-BIMA Yojana and their land being snatched away, while tribals talked about Tribal Bill. "When we first started walking (referring to Bharat Jodo Yatra), we wanted to play the opposition and tell people about their problems.
However, as we progressed, after 500-600 kms, there was a major change. Instead of us telling the people the source of their problems, the yatra started speaking to us," Rahul Gandhi said in the Lok Sabha.