Nirmala Sitharaman on Adani issue: Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her first carefully-guarded reaction on the ongoing Adani controversy, tonight said, “it is not a matter relating to the government, regulators are looking into it”.
Asked by Rajat Sharma in a special show of ‘Aap Ki Adalat’ at the India TV Budget Conclave tonight, about what the government should do about the ongoing Adani controversy, Sitharaman said, “Yeh sarkar ka vishay nahin hai, regulators dekh rahe hain” ( it is not a matter related to the government, regulators are looking into it).
The Finance Minister said, “State Bank of India and Life Insurance Corporation of India have already issued statements making it clear that their exposure is not much. These are their statements. What more should I add?”
Rajat Sharma: What about the Opposition’s demand for a JPC probe?
Nirmala Sitharaman: “I do not want to say more on this.”
Rajat Sharma: Even Robert Vadra has commented on Adani issue.
Nirmala Sitharaman: “Has he come clean on the land that he acquired in Haryana and Rajasthan? He must know that if you point one finger at someone, the remaining three fingers are pointing at him. But look at his confidence.”
The Finance Minister said, “I don’t want to take names, but there are state governments which invited the industrialist to set up projects. Modi Ji never does this. He always prefers open and transparent bidding through tenders. The Rajasthan government gave land for his project. The Communist government in Kerala invited him to carry on with the port project. If you (Left) don’t like him, jaa kar hata do ji (go and remove him)”.
Rajat Sharma: The Opposition wants to stage protests outside SBI, LIC offices.
Nirmala Sitharaman: “Vipaksh me karna padta hai, karen” (They have to do it in Opposition. Let them do)
On the logjam in Parliament on Adani issue, Sitharaman hit out at Congress, saying: “They do this on every issue, whether Panama Papers, or China. During Congress rule, they refused to have discussion on LAC citing national security reasons. It seems Congress has lost its capacity to put forth questions and to listen to replies.”
On a Bloomberg report on FIIs (foreign institutional investors) withdrawing several billion dollars from Indian market in recent days, Sitharaman replied: “I cannot comment without going through it. It could have happened because of US Fed interest rates. FII funds move out quickly when rates are high. There cannot be a single factor, there could be 10 to 12 factors.”
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