Were LIC and SBI instructed to invest in Adani Enterprises FPO despite stock crash? Cong asks govt
New Delhi, Feb 18: The Congress on Saturday asked the government whether instructions were issued to LIC and SBI to invest in the Adani Enterprises FPO despite a drastic fall in its share price after a Hindenburg report on the conglomerate.
Posing a set of three questions to the government as part of the party's "Hum Adani ke Hain Kaun" series, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to break his silence on the issue today.
He claimed that among the anchor investors in the Adani Enterprises follow-on public offering (FPO) were the Life Insurance Corporation of India which bid Rs 299 crore, State Bank of India Employees' Pension Fund which bid Rs 99 crore, and SBI Life Insurance Company which bid Rs 125 crore.
"These publicly owned institutions participated in the FPO despite the fact that the market price had dropped far below the issue price and that both LIC and SBI already owned large chunks of Adani Group equity. Were instructions issued to LIC and SBI to deploy the savings of crores of Indians to once again bail out the Adani Group," he asked in a statement.
Posting the questions, Ramesh tweeted, "Mahashivaratri today and along with it here is HAHK (Hum Adani ke Hain Kaun)-13. The 13th set of questions to the PM. Aaj Toh Chuppi Todiye Pradhan Mantriji (Break your silence today, Prime Minister)!"
Under the HAHK series, the opposition party has been posing questions to the government on the Adani issue.
In its latest set of questions to the prime minister, the Congress asked, "Is it true that a high-profile Union Minister with longstanding commercial links made personal calls to five-six of the most well-known businesspersons on behalf of Gautam Adani and asked them to invest their personal funds in the FPO to save Gautambhai from embarrassment? Does this not represent a conflict of interest worth investigating? Did this Union Minister act on instructions from you?"
The Congress leader also asked if the family offices that were pressured to bail out the Adani FPO given assurances that this was only to save Gautam Adani's reputation and that the FPO would be subsequently cancelled and the money returned to the investors.
"Is it not a violation of Indian securities regulations to hide this relevant information from most investors and only to share it with a select few? Is it ethical to dupe FPO investors in this way," he asked.
Recently, Adani Group stocks had taken a beating on the bourses after the Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share-price manipulation, against the business conglomerate.
The Gautam Adani-led group has dismissed the charges as lies, saying it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements.
The Congress has demanded a joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Adani issue. The opposition party also stalled proceedings of both Houses of Parliament during the first part of the Budget Session.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
Trump rushed out of dinner event after shots fired; one arrested
Washington (PTI): US President Donald Trump and other top White House officials were evacuated unharmed from the annual dinner of White House correspondents after a man armed with multiple weapons fired shots outside the ballroom of the hotel.
The incident took place at around 8:34 PM local time when dinner was served. At that time, Trump was seen having a conversation with Weijia Jiang, the President of the White House Correspondents' Association, and mentalist Oz Pearlman, who was scheduled to present a show at the marquee event at the Washington Hilton here.
Secret Service officials and other security personnel covered the President, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President J D Vance, and the Second Lady Usha Vance, who were seated at the head table, and escorted them out of the ballroom.
Several guests at the dinner, including leaders across the political spectrum, journalists and other invitees, ducked under the table, apparently as a reflex reaction.
Putting up a brave face, President Trump later announced on Truth Social that the dinner would be rescheduled within 30 days.
“Boom, boom, boom, boom is all that I heard, and many guests ducked under the table,” a C-SPAN reporter at the dinner said.
Hours later, Trump addressed a press conference at the White House and announced that the security personnel had captured one person who hails from California.
“I heard a noise and sort of thought it was a tray going down. I've heard that many times. It was a pretty loud noise, and it was from quite far away. He (the attacker) hadn't reached the area at all. They really got him,” Trump told reporters, recalling the incident.
Trump said one security officer was shot at but saved as he was wearing a bulletproof vest.
Several protestors had lined up on the road outside the hotel, raising slogans against the Trump administration and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
A CNN reporter who was outside the ballroom at the Washington Hilton said he saw a gunman opening fire just a few feet away. He was among the dozens of attendees who took cover as law enforcement swarmed the venue.
The suspect has been identified as 31-year-old Cole Tomas Allen from California.
Asked how Saturday’s incident impacts him as the US president, Trump told reporters he is in a dangerous job but that he is no “basket case.”
“I like not to think about it. I lead a pretty normal life, considering, you know, it’s a dangerous life. I think I handle it as well as it can be handled,” Trump said.
Trump has survived two assassination attempts over the past two years – first at a presidential election campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13, 2024, and later in Palm Beach, Florida, on September 15, 2024.
“I will say you had Republicans, Democrats, independents, conservatives, liberals, and progressives...everybody in that room, big crowd, record-setting crowd,” he said.
“We had some great work done by law enforcement, but in light of this evening's events, I ask that all Americans recommit with their hearts in resolving our differences peacefully,” Trump said.
