Rahul’s speech writers will now have to come up with something more outlandish: BJP on Adani report

PTI, May 19, 2023, 6:44 PM IST

New Delhi: The BJP took a swipe at Rahul Gandhi after an expert panel on the Adani issue stated it cannot find any regulatory failure, saying the Congress leader’s speech writers will now have to come up with something more outlandish for him to sustain his “lie machine”.

While BJP’s Amit Malviya targeted Gandhi, senior lawyer Mukul Rohtagi, who represented the Adani Group in the apex court, claimed that the panel’s net conclusion is completely in favour of the corporate behemoth. It has found there is no stock price manipulation and there is no real reason to worry, he told reporters.

While noting that a probe by the Securities and Exchange Board of India, is still on, Rohtagi said the conclusion as of now is that the company has done no violation.

Malviya, the I-T department head of the party, suggested that Gandhi’s another campaign to target the government has come unstuck after his targeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Rafale deal with “chowkidar chor hai” barb.

“The Supreme Court-appointed expert committee informs the court that at this stage, taking into account the explanations provided by SEBI and supported by empirical data, it is not possible to conclude that there has been a regulatory failure around the allegation of price manipulation. Rahul Gandhi’s speech writers will now have to come up with something more outlandish, for him to sustain his lie machine,” he said.

An expert committee appointed by the Supreme Court said it cannot conclude any regulatory failure around Adani Group’s stock rallies, and that SEBI has “drawn a blank” in its probe into alleged violations in money flows from offshore entities into the conglomerate.

“At this stage, taking into account the explanations provided by SEBI, supported by empirical data, prima facie, it would not be possible for the committee to conclude that there has been a regulatory failure around the allegation of price manipulation,” the panel said in the report submitted to the Supreme Court.

It further said there is a need for an effective enforcement policy that is “coherent and consistent” with the legislative position adopted by SEBI.

According to the committee, it also cannot say that there has been a regulatory failure on SEBI’s part on minimum public shareholding rules or on related party transactions.