Akash Jha
On Saturday, the Congress referenced the BJP’s acquisition of a cement company as evidence that the government was abusing its investigative powers to “enrich” a small group of crony capitalists. Jairam Ramesh, general secretary of the Congress party, claimed that companies competing with the Adani Group for prized assets had been subject to CBI, ED, and Income Tax raids “that have dissuaded them from proceeding with their bids, and the assets have ultimately gone to Adani.”
In a statement, he added, “The Congress party had pointed out how the Adani Group has repeatedly profited from well-timed, Modi-made raids by investigative agencies on its business competitors in our Hum Adani ke Hain Kaun (HAHK) series of 100 questions for Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi.”
“The latest episode involves the takeover of Sanghi Industries by the Adaniowned Ambuja Cements,” Ramesh explained.
Timeline for you, Aap : On April 28th, 2023, it was reported that Shree Cement, India’s third-largest cement company, was in talks to acquire Sanghi Industries. Shree Cement is the target of five separate raids by the Income Tax Department on June 21st, 2023. Shree Cement drops out of the bidding for Sanghi Industries on July 19, 2023. The Congress leader said that on August 3, 2023, Adani-owned Ambuja Cements announced that it has acquired Sanghi Industries.
According to Ramesh, Sanghi’s mill in Sanghipuram, Gujarat, produces more clinker and cement than any other facility in India.
He further said that the Sanghipuram Port, which is linked to Adani, will help the company consolidate its hold on the port industry.
With 95% of probes focused at opposition politicians, agencies like the ED and CBI are not just being used to break up opposition parties and bring down opposition-ruled governments. The Rajya Sabha lawmaker claimed that the Adani Group was being given control of valuable assets like the Mumbai airport and the Krishnapatnam Port as a result of raids by these authorities.
Ramesh said the party is “very confident” that the promoters of Shree Cement will be “pressured” into saying that the raids had no impact on their decision to drop out of the bidding process.
Since the US research firm Hindenburg published claims of stock manipulation and financial irregularities against the Adani Group and requested answers from the government, members of Congress have been raising many questions on the Adani issue.
The Adani Group has often said that it did nothing improper and is therefore exonerated from the accusations made in the Hindenburg report.
The Adani controversy cancelled Parliament’s whole Budget session, with the opposition calling for a joint parliamentary investigation.
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