After bribery charges against Adani-Azure Power, Cong demands JPC probe in projects in Assam

Gautam Adani. File Pic

The Assam Congress on Saturday demanded that investment by Azure Power, which has been charged along with Gautam Adani by US prosecutors for allegedly bribing Indian officials for obtaining solar power contracts, in the state be brought under the purview of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) sought by opposition parties to look into the allegations against the billionaire businessman.

State party president Bhupen Kumar Borah claimed that there is a possibility of Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma receiving illegal financial gratifications while awarding the solar power projects in the state to Azure Power, which were inaugurated two years ago.

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Addressing a press conference here, Borah said, "Our party has already demanded a JPC to look into the charges against Adani. We demand that Azure Power's projects in Assam also be brought under the purview of the JPC when it is formed." Congress' national president Mallikarjun Kharge said on Friday that a comprehensive JPC probe into all aspects of the Adani group's functioning, including its investments in foreign countries, and institutional erosion in India is the need of the hour.

Party leader Rahul Gandhi had also sought Adani's immediate arrest, claiming that it is now established in the US that the businessman has broken Indian as well as American laws.

Adani and seven others have been charged by the US Department of Justice with paying bribes to unidentified officials of state governments in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha to buy expensive solar power, potentially earning more than USD 2 billion in profit over 20 years.

According to the indictment, Adani Green Energy - the renewable energy arm of the group - in 2021 won a tender to supply 8 gigawatts of solar power to the government-owned Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI).

New Delhi-based Azure Power, whose officials too have been named along with former executives of Canadian public pension fund manager CDPQ in the case, won a similar 4 GW tender.

Referring to Azure Power's projects in Assam, the state Congress president claimed that illegal gratifications may have been received by the chief minister for clearing these projects.

"Gautam Adani had come to Assam and met our Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in February 2022. In July of that year, the state government entered into an agreement with Azure Power to procure electricity from it for 25 years.

"Going by the findings of the US probe, we have room to believe that bribes were paid here also. We demand that the JPC sought by opposition parties at the Centre to look into Adani's dealings also probes Azure Power's projects in Assam," Borah added.

Projects spread across four districts of Udalguri, Boko, Nagaon and Cachar, and generating a total of 90 MW of solar power were inaugurated by Sarma in July 2022, as per a company release.

Borah, however, expressed scepticism over the BJP-led Central government acting against Adani.

"No action will be taken against Adani, we know that. But Congress will soon expose with evidence the illegal dealings of Adani," he added.

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