CM KCR demands probe on Adani, unveils BRS agenda

Nanded: Coming out with all guns blazing against the Bharatiya Janata Party, charging it of undermining the country’s progress, crony capitalism and treason, Bharat Rashtra Samithi President and Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao on Sunday demanded a discussion in the Parliament on the Adani row and the constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe into the controversy.

Charging the BJP-led Centre of attempts to privatise the Life Insurance Corporation and indulging in treason to import coal to help Adani, he also unveiled the party’s multi-pronged agenda for qualitative change in national politics and to develop the country into an economic superpower of the world. The agenda talks of revolutionary reforms in the country’s economic, constitutional, electoral, judicial, administrative and governance sectors.

Speaking to the media after addressing the party’s first public meeting outside Telangana at Nanded on Sunday, Chandrashekhar Rao slammed the Centre for its attempts to privatise public assets to push the BJP’s crony capitalist agenda. In his first reaction to the Adani row, the Chief Minister said the Centre had pressurised the LIC to invest in the Adani Group and then to make a false statement over its exposure in the Adani Group when the scam was exposed.

“The LIC has an exposure of Rs 80,000 crore in the Adani Group. But to mislead the country, the Centre is pressuring LIC to make a false statement that it is not in danger. LIC is the world’s largest and better-performing insurance company, but why is the government intervening?” he asked.

He pointed out that the entire Indian banking system was involved in the issue, and people were worried about their investments as nearly Rs 10 lakh crore had evaporated from the market within a few days. “If the Centre is not ready to probe into the scam, it is clear who else is involved and who is responsible,” he said.

On the coal scenario, the Chief Minister said India had enough reserves of coal to last for the next 120 years but the Centre was



forcing States to procure imported coal, which was in turn imported by Adani from Australia. He demanded to know why the States should purchase imported coal at Rs 30,000-35,000 per tonne when similar quality coal was available domestically at just Rs 3,000-Rs.4,000 per tonne.

Accusing the Centre of threatening States of penalties and even of reducing domestic coal supplies if they did not comply with its orders, he said the import of coal was nothing short of treason against the country.

“Coal India Ltd has already stated that it has paid the required amount for laying a 250-km long railway track that will increase our coal production exponentially. But the Centre is not letting that happen so that it can push for coal imports,” he said, pointing out that India had coal reserves of around 361 billion tonnes, which meant not even one kilo of coal was required to be imported.

Chandrashekhar Rao said everyone was aware that Modi and Adani were close friends and how the latter became the world’s second richest person within a short span. “The kind of love the Centre has for Adani, it should have for the people of the country,” he said, stating that if the Centre was honest, it should set up a Joint Parliamentary Committee immediately.

On union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman ‘normalising’ the Adani fiasco, the Chief Minister said Sitharaman was a smart woman and such a huge scam could be normal for her. But it was not so for the people of the nation whose money was invested in it directly or indirectly through the LIC and the banking sector.

The BRS President also reiterated that the BJP-led Centre was socialising losses and privatizing profits. The BRS was against privatisation of public assets and if the BRS and like-minded parties came to power at the Centre, the Modi government’s orders would be reversed and privatised PSUs would be nationalised again, he said, emphasizing the need for the country to invest in public sector enterprises in national interest.