New Delhi: Congress veteran P Chidambaram appeared to visibly dodge a media query regarding the Adani Group's proposed investment in the party-ruled Telangana, swiftly passing the mic to his colleague Supriya Shrinate, who, again, refused to answer the question.
At a press conference on the party's Lok Sabha polls manifesto on Wednesday, one of the journalists asked Chidambaram about the investment proposal, he was visibly uncomfortable and moved the mic towards Shrinate.
Shrinate requested the media to ask queries linked to the manifesto.
"I think this is the press conference for the manifesto. We should concentrate on this topic only. Please don't mind. But manifesto launch is a big thing," she said.
The video of the incident has gone viral.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi has often accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of providing undue benefits to industrialist Gautam Adani, calling Adani, Modi's "friend". Several other Opposition leaders also accused the government of promoting crony capitalism.
The Adani Group on Thursday signed four Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with the Revanth Reddy-led Telangana government for an investment of over ₹12,400 crore, at the World Economic Forum 2024.
Reddy signed the deal with Adani himself. The Adani Group will invest ₹5000 crore in a 100 MV data centre in the state, ₹5000 crore for setting up two pup storage projects and ₹1400 crore for a cement plant.
BJP leader Khushboo Sundar slammed the DMK over the same matter.
"Here, even a shameless DMK is not different. After singing a tune of "Adani is Modi, Modi is Adani" , they have signed up a ₹42700 crores pact with Adani group. Yet they won't accept that #Adanis are the best in business and our PM Narendra Modi ji will work only with the best to ensure the growth of this country. No mediocrity is acceptable, unlike the CONgress times when all that mattered was how much of commission cut they were getting," she wrote on X.