Billionaire industrialists Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Adani have been dragged into the ongoing election campaign in the country with both the BJP and Congress trading barbs about election funding allegedly made by the two billionaire businessmen.
It began when Prime Minister Narendra Modi, during an election rally in Telangana on Wednesday asked why Rahul Gandhi stopped taking the names of Adani and Ambani in his attacks against the BJP-led government at the Centre and wondered whether the Congress leader had received money from these industrialists.
Modi wondered if the Congress had received "tempo loads of black money" from Ambani and Adani to stop abusing them.
"Certainly something is fishy. For five years, (they) abused Adani-Ambani and it stopped overnight. It means you have received some tempo loads of 'chori ka maal' (loot)...Kaale dhan ki kitni boriya bharkar ke rupaye maare hai (how many sacks of black money you have taken) You have to answer the nation," Modi had said.
Launching a fierce counterattack, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra asked if the entire BJP machinery is engaged in spreading "lies" about Rahul Gandhi. "Rahul ji is not taking Adani-Ambani names. But Rahul ji talks about Adani-Ambani every day, he puts the truth about them before the public. Every day we tell you that they (BJP) have a nexus with big industrialists," she had said in Uttar Pradesh's Raebareli.
Rahul dares Modi
Addressing the criticism head-on, Rahul Gandhi dared Modi to hold a probe by the CBI or ED into whether Adani and Ambani sent black money to his party and sought to know if Modi was speaking from his "personal experience". He also asked Modi if he was "scared".
"Modi ji, are you a little scared? Normally you talk about Adani and Ambani behind closed doors, but for the first time you have talked about Adani and Ambani in public," Gandhi said in a video message.
"You also know that they give money in a tempo. Is it your personal experience?...Do one thing - send the CBI or ED to them and carry out a thorough investigation and don't be scared," the Congress leader said.
"The country knows who is the driver and helper of the BJP's tempo of corruption," Gandhi said in a post in Hindi on X.
AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh too targeted Modi, saying the prime minister is bewildered as he is not getting a clear majority and is now attacking "his own friends".
"What has the 'pappa' of 'Hum do, hamare do' said today. He is saying that his two friends Adani and Ambani have tempo full of black money.
"Prime Minister, three questions arise from your sensational statement. The first is that you came on TV to announce the note ban on November 8, 2016. Today eight years later, you are saying these two businessmen have bags full of black money.
"Secondly, if these two people have so much black money, why has ED, CBI action not been taken against them, even after you have put two chief ministers in jail for corruption? Is the ED, CBI sleeping like 'Kumbhakaran'," he asked.
Ramesh said in the last 10 years, there has been "privatisation and everything has been sold out to them".
"Where is the black money coming from? You should answer."
"The real thing is that you are bewildered and are troubled and you know that you are not getting a clear majority on June 4 and that is why you are raising all kinds of things," the Congress leader alleged.
Modi accepted Adani, Ambani amassed black money: Gehlot
Taking a swipe at the prime minister, Congress leader Ashok Gehlot said Modi with his remark had conceded that "Adani-Ambani" amassed black money.
"Well, the Prime Minister has openly revealed that Adani-Ambani have immense amounts of black money which he could not dare to touch in 10 years," Gehlot said on X.
"Now, Modi ji should also tell that before today, at whose place were the sacks and tempos filled with currency notes emptied?" he said.
The former Rajasthan chief minister said, "Rahul Gandhi has been struggling for the truth for a long time. The ultimate victory is of truth. Justice and truth will prevail on June 4."
—With agency inputs
