Congress asked the BJP-led central government on Saturday whether state insurer LIC and India’s largest public sector bank, the State Bank of India (SBI), had been instructed to invest in Adani Enterprises FPO. despite the sharp drop in the share price following a scathing report on the conglomerate by US short seller Hindenburg Research. Congress Secretary General Jairam Ramesh said in a statement that Life Insurance Corporation of India, State Bank of India Employees Pension Fund and SBI Life Insurance Company were among the top investors in the FPO of Adani Enterprises, even though the market price had fallen well below the issue price.
“Have instructions been given to the LIC and SBI to deploy the savings of several million Indians to bail out the Adani Group again? asked Jairam Ramesh, posing a series of three questions to the government as part of the party’s “Hum Adani ke Hain Kaun” series.
As part of the HAHK series, the opposition party posed questions to the government on the Adani issue.
Ramesh tweeted, “Mahashivaratri today and with him comes HAHK (Hum Adani ke Hain Kaun)-13. The 13th round of Prime Minister’s Questions. Aaj Toh Chuppi Todiye Pradhan Mantriji (Break your silence today, Prime Minister)!”
In its final round of questioning, Congress asked: “Is it true that a high-profile Union minister with long business ties personally called five or six of the most well-known businessmen in name of Gautam Adani and asked them to invest their personal funds in the FPO to save Gautambhai from embarrassment? Doesn’t this represent a conflict of interest that deserves investigation? This Union minister has did he act on your instructions?
The Congress leader also questioned whether the family offices that were pressured to bail out Adani’s FPO had assured that it was only to salvage Gautam Adani’s reputation and that the FPO would then be canceled and the money returned. to investors.
“Isn’t it a violation of Indian securities regulations to hide such relevant information from most investors and only share it with a select few? Is it ethical to dupe FPO investors in this way “, he asked.
Opposition parties have tried to corner the government over allegations of stock manipulation and fraud against the Adani Group, given the embattled billionaire’s widely perceived closeness to Prime Minister Modi. Congress has called for a joint parliamentary committee investigation into the Adani issue.
The Gautam Adani-led group has dismissed the accusations as lies, saying it follows all laws and disclosure requirements.
