Congress MP and the party’s general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday posed three fresh questions to the BJP-led central government amid the Hindenburg-Adani row.
The questions were raised during the Congress’s nationwide ‘Hum Adani Ke Hain Kaun’ campaign.
The questions posed by the Congress MP today relate to the Adani Group’s shenanigans in the power sector, particularly the growing evidence that it is powering the BJP’s electoral fortunes at the expense of Indian consumers.
“Before taking a break for Holi tomorrow we would be failing in our public duty if we didn’t ask the PM 3 questions on the Adani MahaMegaScam today. Here is HAHK (Hum Adanike Hain Kaun)-24. Chuppi Todiye Pradhan Mantriji,” tweeted Jairam Ramesh.
Citing that Adani Electricity Mumbai raised US$1 billion (Rs 7,200 crore) in foreign debt from Asian investors, possibly including Chinese entities, Jairam Ramesh questioned given the Adani Group’s financial stresses, what is the government doing to ensure that, in case of a default, the electricity distribution of Mumbai does not fall into the hands of foreign creditors, especially Chinese.
“Given the Adani Group’s financial stresses, what is the government doing to ensure that, in case of a default, the electricity distribution of Mumbai does not fall into the hands of foreign creditors, especially Chinese,” he wrote.
He in the letter referred to Adicorp Enterprises, a small Ahmedabad-based firm, with revenues of only Rs 64 crore that borrowed Rs 622 crore from four Adani Group firms and loaned Rs 609 crore to Adani Power in 2019-20.
“On 29 January 2023, the Adani Group claimed that Adicorp was not a related party which is why these transactions had not been appropriately disclosed. Now we learn that Mukesh M. Shah, an independent director and chairman of the audit committee at Adani Power, is also the founder and managing partner of the firm that audits Adicorp. How can any independent scrutiny of related-party financial transactions occur given these conflicts of interest? Are these deep connections helping cover up alleged money-laundering and round-tripping by the Adani Group? Will any of the investigative agencies that are so quick to investigate your political opponents look into these opaque transactions?” it read.
The Congress MP said that the Adani Group has been overcharging Bangladeshi consumers for electricity supplied from its Godda (Jharkhand) thermal power plant. The Gujarat state government has now acknowledged in a written reply that the average cost of electricity purchased from Adani Power has gone up from Rs 2.82 per unit in January 2021 to Rs 8.82 per unit in December 2022.
“The total amount paid for electricity by the Gujarat government to Adani Power increased from Rs 2,760 crore in 2021 to Rs 5,400 crore in 2022. This was possible only after the Gujarat government modified the power purchase agreement with Adani Power on 5 December 2018 giving Adani much more favourable terms. The entire country knows who runs Gujarat; did you exercise your authority to grant your favourite businessmen another bonanza, this time at the cost of Gujarat’s electricity consumers and taxpayers?” he questioned.
