New Delhi: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to hold a probe by the CBI or ED into whether businessmen Adani and Ambani sent black money to his party and taunted if Modi was speaking from his "personal experience" that they send their "money in a tempo". He also asked Modi if he was "scared".
Gandhi's strong retort to PM Modi came after the latter attacked him at an election rally, saying why he had stopped "abusing" Adani and Ambani in his attacks and whether his party received money from them in return.
"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 the video message. "You also know that they give money in a tempo. Is it your personal experience?" Gandhi said while taking a swipe at PM Modi.
"Do one thing - send the CBI, ED to them and carry out a thorough investigation and don't be scared," he 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.
He said the money that PM Modi has "given" to the two businessmen, the Congress party will give the same amount of money to the people of India through the various schemes that the party has promised.
The Congress has been accusing the prime minister of favouring the top five industrialists in the country, including Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani. Gandhi also said that while the prime minister has made 22 billionaires, the Congress will make crores of 'lakhpatis' in the country.
AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh also targeted Modi on his statement and said that 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 that 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.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra also said, "In the third phase itself, the people of the country have slowed down the tempo of Modi ji, hence he is missing the tempo of his friends." "Modiji, please answer, the country wants to know," she said in a post on X.
Prime Minister Modi on Wednesday accused the Congress of having a "deal" with Ambani and Adani, and asked if the party has received "tempo loads of black money" from the two businessmen for its leader Rahul Gandhi to stop "abusing" them.
"Since his Rafale issue got grounded, he started chanting about 'five industrialists'. Then he started saying Ambani-Adani. But ever since elections have been announced, these people (Congress) have stopped abusing Ambani-Adani.
"I want to ask from Telangana soil, let the Shehzada announce, how much has been lifted from Ambani-Adani. Has tempo loads of money reached the Congress? What deal has been arrived at that abusing Ambani-Adani has stopped overnight?" he said while addressing an election rally at Vemulawada in Telangana.
"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," the prime minister said. (With PTI inputs)
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