Rahul Gandhi also asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to order a probe into the issue.
A day after Rahul Gandhi blamed the Adani Group for the rise in electricity prices, BJP's Amit Malviya dared him to act against the projects of the conglomerate led by Gautam Adani in Congress-ruled states.
Rahul Gandhi, citing a Financial Times report, claimed the Adani Group over-invoiced coal imports, which impacted electricity rates in the country and led to consumers paying higher electricity bills, with some Congress-ruled states having to pay subsidies to the poor.
"We are giving electricity subsidies in Karnataka, and going to do in Madhya Pradesh and now we know the reason for this is Adani," he said.
He also asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to order a probe into the issue.
Mr Malviya hit back at Mr Gandhi and pointed to the Adani Group's projects in Congress-ruled states.
"Adani has power projects in Congress-ruled Karnataka, Rajasthan and Chattisgarh among others. Now that Rahul Gandhi has figured out the reason why they have to give 'subsidies' in these states, he should ensure that Congress governments act against Adani and not protect him. Let him walk the talk," he posted on X, formerly Twitter.
The Adani Group has major investments in Congress-ruled states like Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan. The Karnataka government, too, is expected to attract investments, which are considered essential in the infrastructure sector, from the Adani Group.
Earlier in June, Karnataka Industries Minister MB Patil said in an interview to a private news channel that the state is open to investments by the Adani Group and will "give time" to the conglomerate to "come up with proposals".
Mr Malviya also targeted the Congress MP over his response to a question on whether states ruled by his party would initiate a probe into the alleged over-invoicing. "It's an interesting idea," was what Mr Gandhi said.
The BJP's national information department in-charge jabbed Mr Gandhi, saying, "After doing an entire press conference, Rahul Gandhi still thinks, it is just an 'interesting' idea to initiate probe, into what he claimed was over-invoicing, leading to rise in power tariff. You need to be either daft or delusional to think that people are fools and can't see through such gimmicks."
Last week, the Adani Group stronly dismissed the Financial Times report and said there was a "renewed attempt by the UK-based newspaper Financial Times and its collaborators to rehash old and baseless allegations to tarnish the name and standing of the Indian business conglomerate."
These articles were part of an extended campaign to advance vested interests under the guise of public interest, the Adani group had said in a media statement.
(Disclaimer: New Delhi Television is a subsidiary of AMG Media Networks Limited, an Adani Group Company.)