Mallikarjun Kharge says PM Modi’s closest friends have increased 13 times

The leader of the Opposition in the Parliament and Congress, Mallikarjun Kharge, attacked the Central government on Wednesday over its links to the Adani Group of companies and said that PM Modi's closest friends wealth has increased 13 times in 2.5 years. This caused a lot of chaos in Rajya Sabha.

I want to know why he is letting some industrialists eat. The wealth of one of the closest friends of PM Modi has gone up 13 times in 2.5 years. It was Rs 50,000 crore in 2014 and Rs 1 lakh crore in 2019 I don't know what magic happened, when his assets touched Rs 12 lakh crore in just two years, Congress MP Kharge said amid protests from BJP legislators.

Rajya Sabha has suspended both the Zero Hour and the Question Hour to begin a debate on Motion of Thanks on the President's address. It is noted that the Opposition has been demanding a joint parliamentary committee inquiry into the allegations levelled by Hindenburg Research on the Adani group.

The Opposition parties said that the recent fall in Adani Group shares is a'mega scam' that involves common people's money, as public sector LIC and SBI have invested in them and have questioned the government's steps taken by them.

On Wednesday, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge said: If I speak the truth, is it anti-national? I'm not anti-national. You're looting the country telling me that I'm anti-national. If the Prime Minister is not afraid of anything, why should he be afraid of a joint parliamentary investigation on the Adani-Hindenburg row, Kharge said.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said they are subtly and overtly insinuating against the Prime Minister, despite Kharge's charges and blame game.

Consumer Affairs Piyush Goyal, the Union Minister of Commerce Industry, protested Mallikarjun Kharge'sKharge's statement and said that Kharge alleged that it couldn't be substantiated. He is talking about a purported wealth that does not have merit. That is a share market calculation. Goyal said that the government has no role in that. Goyal said he urges him to learn what is this valuation from the former finance minister.

On Tuesday, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi launched a scathing attack on PM Modi and held him responsible for the meteoric rise of Gautam Adani, the chairman of Adani Group.

He claimed that Adani's rise was due to Prime Minister Modi as several rules were changed to benefit his business conglomerate. He said that anyone who does not have prior experience in airports can't be involved in the development of airports. This rule was changed by the Government of India, Gandhi said.