'One Man, One Government, One Business Group': Congress takes swipe at govt over Adani issue
New Delhi (PTI): The Congress on Saturday attacked the government over the Adani issue, saying the G20 theme is 'One Earth, One Family, One Future' but Prime Minister Narendra Modi seems to actually believe in "One Man, One Government, One Business Group".
The Congress has been questioning the financial dealings of billionaire Gautam Adani's group after US research firm Hindenburg alleged "irregularities" and charged it with stock price manipulation. The Adani Group has denied all the allegations made in the Hindenburg report and claimed there had been no wrongdoing on its part.
Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said in a statement that as the 2023 G20 Summit begins in Delhi, it is worth recalling Modi's many exhortations at previous meetings of the grouping for the international community to crack down on corruption and money laundering.
At the 2014 Brisbane G20 meeting, the prime minister called for global cooperation "to eliminate safe havens for economic offenders", to "track down and unconditionally extradite money launderers" and to "break down the web of complex international regulations and excessive banking secrecy that hide the corrupt and their deeds", the Congress leader said.
At the 2018 Buenos Aires G20 summit, Modi presented a nine-point agenda "for action against fugitive economic offences and asset recovery", Ramesh said.
"The PM's brazenness would be laughable if his complicity in high-level corruption and economic offences were not so serious.
"The PM has not simply facilitated the creation of Modi-made Monopolies (3M) for his close friends, the Adanis, in critical sectors like ports, airports, power and roads using all the tools at his disposal, he has systematically blocked all investigations into Adani's wrongdoing by agencies as varied as SEBI, CBI, ED, the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) and the Serious Fraud Investigation Office...," he charged.
This ensures that "tax havens are safe for his close friends and that they continue to enjoy the protection of excessive banking secrecy and complex international regulations", he alleged.
The revelation that at least two opaque funds that are alleged to have done round-tripping, money laundering and to have violated securities laws are directly connected to Adani is the most recent example of how enfeebled agencies have been made "subservient to the Adanis' and the PM's corporate interests", Ramesh said.
"No less a body than the Supreme Court's Expert Committee noted in its damning report how SEBI had itself deleted the requirement for overseas funds to report their actual ownership, something that it belatedly tried to undo in June 2023 when it reintroduced reporting requirements, long after the Adani horse had bolted. Would it have done so without pressure from the top," he asked.
Note that it deleted those requirements long after the departure of UK Sinha, who joined the board of the Adani-owned channel after having previously failed to act on a DRI investigation on Adani, indicative of a broader conspiracy, Ramesh said.
"The PM's 'nine-point agenda' is equally laughable given the ease with which the BJP permitted economic offenders like Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi, Mehul 'Bhai' Choksi and Vijay Mallya to flee the country. The government itself has admitted that it has been able to bring back only two of 72 major economic offenders in recent years," he alleged.
The G20 is intended to be a productive gathering of the major world economies, aimed at dealing with global problems in a cooperative manner, Ramesh noted.
"President Putin may have stayed away, but Prince Potemkin has been in full display with slums being either covered up or demolished, rendering thousands homeless. Stray animals have been cruelly rounded up and mistreated, only to burnish the PM's image. The G20 slogan is 'One Earth, One Family, One Future'. However, the PM seems to actually believe in 'One Man, One Government, One Business Group'," the Congress general secretary said.
Opposition parties have also been demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Adani issue.
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Hospital wall collapse: CM orders suspension of executive engineer; kin of victims get solatium
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Thursday ordered the immediate suspension of an executive engineer for the Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital wall collapse that claimed the lives of seven people, during a high-level review meeting at Vidhana Soudha.
A compensation of Rs 5 lakh, as announced by the CM Siddaramaiah, was distributed to the families of seven victims who lost their lives in the tragedy on Wednesday evening, which occurred due to heavy downpour with gusty winds and hailstorm.
The meeting of municipal commissioners of the five corporations, chaired by the chief minister and attended by Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, focused on fixing accountability and examining lapses that led to the tragedy.
"Why was soil dumped in a way that damaged the wall? Why did you not monitor this?" Siddaramaiah asked, pulling up hospital authorities during the meeting.
A statement from the chief minister's office said that the CM ordered the immediate suspension of the executive engineer of the Karnataka Health Systems Development Project (KHSDP).
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He also questioned the hospital authorities, asking why they failed to monitor the dumping of soil that weakened the structure.
The chief minister directed that a notice be issued to the head of the Hospital.
During the meeting, Siddaramaiah said the rains had caused extensive damage in the city, with over 250 trees uprooted.
The Chief Minister instructed officials to take necessary measures before the onset of the monsoon to avoid untoward incidents.
Commissioners of all five municipal zones in Bengaluru have been asked to take precautionary steps, including trimming dry and dangerous tree branches, the CMO said.
Siddaramaiah also directed them to get the silt cleared from stormwater drains to prevent flooding, and that immediate action be taken to remove debris and fallen branches from roads.
Further, he instructed that barricades be placed at underpasses where water stagnates and restricts public movement.
The Greater Bengaluru Authority (GBA) Chief Commissioner M Maheshwar Rao said in a statement that Shivajinagar MLA Rizwan Arshad distributed compensation cheques of Rs 5 lakh each to the families of the deceased on Thursday.
Seven people, including a six-year-old girl, were killed and seven others injured when the compound wall collapsed amid heavy rain, strong winds and a hailstorm on Wednesday evening.
Police said the victims, comprising three from Bengaluru, two from Kerala on a study tour and one each from Uttar Pradesh and Assam, had taken shelter near the wall when it suddenly gave way, trapping them under the debris.
The chief minister questioned officials over the dumping of soil near the wall despite knowing it could weaken the structure, and directed that a notice be issued to the head of Bowring Hospital.
Siddaramaiah, who had visited the spot soon after the incident along with senior officials, reviewed the situation and ordered a detailed probe into the collapse.
