Prasad 'habitual offender', lying to save Modi on Rafale deal: Congress
New Delhi, Aug 13 : The Congress on Monday attacked Union Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, saying he is "a habitual offender in weaving lies" and is "brazenly misleading people sewing together a web of lies" to save Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Rafale deal.
The party demanded that Modi government immediately set up a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe the Rafale scam and must answer to the questions raised by Congress President Rahul Gandhi.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday hit out at Gandhi, saying he is spreading a "blatant lie" against Prime Minister Modi and his government over alleged corruption in the Rafale deal to escape the Income Tax Department inquiry against him related to the National Herald case.
Congress spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala said: "Modi government's Law Minister is a habitual offender in weaving lies based on figments of his imagination.
"Today again he brazenly misled the people by sewing together a web of lies to save his master, Narendra Modi," he said.
Surjewala asked: "Who benefitted from the unilateral Rafale deal which snatched the Rs 30,000 crore ... contract from HAL, thereby benefiting a private entity...?"
"Why did BJP President Amit Shah deliberately hide his son's contingent liabilities and credit facilities worth Rs 97.35 crore and how did ‘Shah-Zaada' multiply his earnings by 16,000 times?" he said.
Surjewla said the Congress President on Monday asked the same questions that he has been asking from the Prime Minister as to what is the reason of secrecy behind the Rafale scam deal.
"Why did PM Modi bypass the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS)? Why was Rs 41,000 crore loss caused to public exchequer by 300 per cent rise in the purchase price of Rafale planes from Rs 526 crore per aircraft to Rs 1,670 crore per aircraft?" said Surjewala.
"Why was India denied the transfer of technology to manufacture Rafale aircraft? Why was defence procurement procedure violated with impunity? The country feels sorry for the Law Minister, because instead of talking on the issue at hand, he was busy deflecting public attention by joining imaginary issues," he added.
Since Ravi Shankar Prasad was speaking about the secrecy clause and repeating the alibi which Modi gave during the "No-Confidence motion" debate, he should refer to the agreement between India and France concerning the protection of classified information and material in the field of defence and tell which paragraph states that the commercial cost of defence deals cannot be revealed, he said.
"During the No Confidence Motion debate, Modi was conveniently hiding behind the statement of French Government for not disclosing the price.
"PM's stand is inconsistent with the statement made by French President Emmanuel Macron on March 8, 2018 in an interview to a prominent news channel, stating that 'if the Modi government wanted to disclose some of the details to the opposition and Parliament, he won't interfere in such a discussion'.
"Where does the French President say that the commercial cost of the Rafale deal cannot be disclosed?" Surjewala said.
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Anti-Adani short-seller Hindenburg Research disbanded
Washington (PTI): Hindenburg Research, a US investment research firm known for short-selling, and whose reports resulted in wiping out billions of dollars of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and his companies, has been shut down, its founder Nate Anderson announced Wednesday.
“As I’ve shared with family, friends and our team since late last year, I have made the decision to disband Hindenburg Research. The plan has been to wind up after we finished the pipeline of ideas we were working on. And as of the last Ponzi cases we just completed and are sharing with regulators, that day is today,” Anderson announced.
In the last few years, Hindenburg Research had launched a campaign against the Adani group. Its reports published since 2023 had resulted in billions of dollars of loss for the Indian billionaire. All the charges were denied by Adani and his companies.
The sudden and surprising announcement by Anderson comes within days of a Republican Congressman, a member of the House Judiciary Committee, asking the Department of Justice to preserve all the documents and communications related to the investigations of Adani and his companies.
Anderson did not give a specific reason for disbanding his organization, which is less than a week before the end of the four-year term of the Biden Administration and the swearing-in of Donald Trump as the 47th President of the United States on January 20.
“So, why disband now? There is not one specific thing—no particular threat, no health issue, and no big personal issue. Someone once told me that at a certain point a successful career becomes a selfish act. Early on, I felt I needed to prove some things to myself. I have now finally found some comfort with myself, probably for the first time in my life,” he said.
“I probably could have had it all along had I let myself, but I needed to put myself through a bit of hell first. The intensity and focus has come at the cost of missing a lot of the rest of the world and the people I care about. I now view Hindenburg as a chapter in my life, not a central thing that defines me,” he said.
In an interview to The Wall Street Journal, Anderson said he looks forward to taking up hobbies, travelling and spending time with his fiancée and their child, adding that he has earned enough money to provide for them in the future. He said he plans to invest his money in index funds and other low-stress investments.
Anderson said for now, he will be focused on making sure everyone on his team lands where they want to be next.
“Some are going to start their own research firm, which I will strongly and publicly encourage, even as I will have no personal involvement. There are others on our team who are now free agents—so feel free to reach out to me if you have a need for anyone who is brilliant, focused, and easy to work with, as they all are,” he said.
