Rahul Gandhi's party and other opposition parties have been seeking a JPC probe into Adani-Hindenburg
The Congress today distanced itself from its Maharashtra ally Sharad Pawar's comment that US short-seller Hindenburg Research's report on the Adani Group seemed to be a "targetted" attack.
Mr Pawar, the chief of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), in an interview with NDTV today, strongly backed the Adani Group and slammed the narrative around Hindenburg's report on the conglomerate.
The Congress, however, in a statement kept Mr Pawar's comment at an arm's length and asserted that the Adani Group matter allegedly "linked" to Prime Minister Narendra Modi is "real and very serious".
The Congress is among a large group of opposition parties that has been seeking a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) investigation into the Adani-Hindenburg row, a matter that had stalled parliament sessions.
"The NCP may have its view but 19 like-minded parties are convinced that the PM-linked Adani Group issue is real and very serious," Congress spokesperson Jairam Ramesh said in a statement today after Mr Pawar's interview with NDTV.
"But all 20 like-minded opposition parties, including the NCP, are united and will be together in saving the Constitution and our democracy from the BJP's assaults and in defeating the BJP's divisive and destructive political, social and economic agenda," Mr Ramesh said.
In the statement, the Congress spokesperson excluded Mr Pawar's party from the list of "19 like-minded parties" that want a JPC probe into the Adani-Hindenburg row, but included the NCP in the list of parties - "20 like-minded parties" - that will continue to fight the BJP in the national level.
In the interview, Mr Pawar candidly said he did not share the views of his Maharashtra ally on its single-minded demand for a JPC investigation into the Hindenburg report.
"Such statements (on Adani Group and PM Modi) were given by other individuals too earlier and there was a ruckus in parliament for a few days but this time out of proportion importance was given to the issue. The issues that were kept, who kept them, we had never heard of these people who gave the statement, what is the background. When they raise issues that cause a ruckus across the country, the cost is borne by the country's economy, we cannot disregard these things. It seems this was targeted," Mr Pawar told NDTV.
The Adani Group has likened the allegations by Hindenburg a "calculated attack" on India, its institutions and growth story.
Read full transcript of the interview here
(Disclaimer: New Delhi Television is a subsidiary of AMG Media Networks Limited, an Adani Group Company.)