Pawar’s Support for Adani, Ambani Puts Congress & Opposition in Fix

New Delhi: NCP leader and veteran politician Sharad Pawar on Friday aimed guns at the Congress and some political parties by saying, attacking industrialists like Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani to score political points was “not right”.

In an exclusive interview with NDTV, the Pawar said Indian political parties have a long history of targeting the private sector, but the phenomenon needed to change.

“This has been happening in this country for many years. I remember many years ago that when we came into politics, if we had to speak against the government, we used to speak against Tata-Birla. When we understood the contribution of Tata, we used to wonder why we kept on saying Tata-Birla,”  Pawar said.

“But one had to target someone. So, we used to target Tata-Birla. Today, the name of Tata-Birla is not at the forefront, different Tata-Birlas have come before the government. So, these days if you have to attack the government, the name of Ambani and Adani is taken,” he said.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde used this statement of Pawar to take a swipe at the Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray and said, those protesting the Adani issue should heed NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s comments on the issue.

Earlier, TMC MP Mahua Moitra had also reacted to Sharad Pawar’s comments saying, “Adani owned channel interviewing Adani’s friends to tell us how he is being targeted. Long live Indian Media – you truly are a rare species!”

The Opposition has been seeking a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the allegations levelled by US-based shortseller Hindenberg Research that the Adani group committed large scale stock manipulation and accounting fraud.