Cong to step up attack on govt over Adani-Hindenburg issue, organise protests across country

PTI, Feb 27, 2023, 11:46 AM IST

Nava Raipur: To step up its attack on the government over the Adani-Hindenburg issue, the Congress has asked its state units to hold press conferences on the issue across states and subsequently organise protests at various levels.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Congress general secretary in-charge organisation K C Venugopal said the party has decided to intensify its agitation and take the issue directly to the people.

All Pradesh Congress Committees (PCCs) have been asked to arrange press conferences in all districts which will be addressed by senior state leaders, and subsequently, all state units will organise the agitational activities at various levels, Venugopal said.

Block-level agitations will be organised in front of offices of public banks and LIC between March 6 and 10 all over the country, he said.

‘Pardafash (expose) rallies’ will be organised at all the district headquarters in March and a massive ‘Chalo Raj Bhavan’ march will be organised in state headquarters on March 13, the day Parliament will reconvene for the second part of the Budget Session.

Mega rallies will be organised in all the state capitals in April, and these will be addressed by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi and other national-level leaders, the statement said.

All the state-level senior leaders, MPs, MLAs, MLCs and other elected representatives, leaders of frontal organisations, departments and cells, and party workers have been asked to participate in all of these agitational programmes, Venugopal said.

“The recent Hindenburg report has exposed Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi and the BJP government’s policy of crony capitalism in favour of Adani. At a time of deep economic distress, PM Modi has been selling the nation’s critical infrastructure to the Adani Group, bending India’s foreign policy and forcing public institutions like SBI and LIC to invest in the Adani Group,” the Congress alleged.

The recent revelations have shown that crores of rupees of poor and middle-class people’s savings are at risk, it said.

The Adani Group’s stocks had taken a beating on the bourses after US-based short seller Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation, against it. The group has dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.

The Congress and many other opposition parties have been demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the allegations.