'Indicates Panic' Over Adani Issue: Congress On Govt Announcing Special Session

The Congress on Thursday said that the government announcing a special session of Parliament indicated that it is in "panic" over fresh allegations against the Adani Group and claimed that it was looking to manage the news cycle with the move.

Asked about the government announcing the five-day special session in September and what it indicated, Gandhi said, "It's an indication of a little panic... same type of panic that happened when I spoke in Parliament house, panic that suddenly made them revoke my Parliament membership."

"So, I think, it is panic because these matters are very close to the prime minister and whenever you touch the Adani matter, the prime minister gets very uncomfortable and very nervous," he said at a press conference here. Reacting to the development, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, in a post on X, said the demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the allegations against the Adani Group, however, will continue to resonate inside and outside Parliament.

"Managing the News Cycle, Modi style. 1. News today has been dominated by latest revelations on the Modani-scam. 2. Tomorrow the ever-growing INDIA parties meet in Mumbai," Ramesh said. "How to counter? Announce a 5-day special session of Parliament when Monsoon session has just ended 3 weeks back. Regardless, the JPC demand will continue to resonate inside and outside Parliament," he said.

Earlier in the day, the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) alleged that hundreds of millions of dollars were invested in publicly traded group stocks of billionaire Gautam Adani's group through Mauritius-based "opaque" investment funds managed by partners of promoter family, charges the conglomerate denied vehemently. Shares of the Adani Group stocks fell after the report of the investigative reporting platform was made public.

The fresh allegations by the organisation funded by the likes of billionaire investor George Soros and Rockefeller Brothers Fund come months after a report by US short seller Hindenburg Research wiped away close to USD 150 billion in value of Adani Group stocks with allegations of accounting fraud, stock price manipulation and improper use of tax havens by the ports-to-energy conglomerate. The Adani Group has denied all Hindenburg allegations. The government has convened a five-day special session of Parliament from September 18 and 22, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi said earlier on Thursday. There was no official word on the agenda of the session which will be held days after the G20 Summit in Delhi on September 9 and 10.