A day after Gautam Adani announced Rs 65,000-crore investment in Congress-ruled Rajasthan, Rahul Gandhi said the Congress government in the state hadn’t given preferential treatment to the industrialist. Gandhi, who is on a Bharat Jodo padyatra from Kanyakumari to Kashmir, said that he was not against corporates but against “monopolies”.
Addressing a press conference in Karnataka’s Turuvekere, Gandhi also said that if the Rajasthan government had given business to Adani “wrongly”, he would “oppose that too”.
The BJP mocked the Congress after Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot lavished praise on Adani, the industrialist Gandhi often picks to allege that Prime Minister Narendra Modi helps only big businessmen.
Asked about Adani’s presence at a Rajasthan government event and the industrialist pledging investments in the state, Gandhi said, “Mr Adani has committed Rs 60,000 crore to Rajasthan. No chief minister can refuse such an offer. In fact, it would not be correct for a chief minister to refuse such an offer. My contention is in the use of political power to help certain chosen businesses. My opposition is to two-three or four large businesses being helped politically to monopolise every single business in this country.”
He said, “I am in no way against corporates, I am in no way against business but I am against the complete monopolisation of Indian business because that weakens the country. Today what we are seeing is being done by the BJP government is complete monopolisation of all businesses by helping a chosen few businesses.”
Earlier in a tweet, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said much media hype is being created over Gehlot’s meeting with Adani.
Condemning the BJP for mocking the Congress after he lavished praise on industrialist Gautam Adani during the Invest Rajasthan summit, Chief Minister Gehlot said it was not a private programme and 3,000 delegates attended it. “Be it Adani or Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s son Jay Shah, Rajasthan will welcome all because it wants investment and employment,” Gehlot said.
Adani, the chairman of the Adani Group and the richest man in Asia, was seated next to Gehlot during the inaugural ceremony of Invest Rajasthan, organised by the Congress-run state government to attract investment.
Adani announced Rs 65,000 crore investment in Rajasthan over the next five to seven years — setting up a 10,000 MW solar power facility, expanding cement plant, and upgrading the Jaipur International Airport.
