Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Modi alleges Congress sealed deal with Adani, Ambani; Rahul Gandhi challenges PM to send CBI, ED

'You usually speak of Adani-Ambani in closed doors, but now you have spoken about them publicly. Since you spoke of money coming in tempos, do you have prior experience of that? Why don’t you let the CBI and ED start a probe on the matter,' Rahul Gandhi said.

New Delhi: A war of words broke out between prime minister Narendra Modi and Congress president Rahul Gandhi over industrialists Gautam Adani and Mukesh Ambani, with the PM taking a swipe at Rahul Gandhi, and questioned his 'sudden silence' on Adani and Ambani. In response, Gandhi challenged him to send the investigative agencies CBI and ED to probe the matter.

PM Modi while campaigning in Telangana on Wednesday, said that since the polls have started, Gandhi has not mentioned Adani and Ambani.

“Ever since elections have been announced, these people have stopped abusing Ambani-Adani. I want to ask from Telangana soil, let the Shehzada (referring to Rahul Gandhi) announce how much has been lifted from Ambani-Adani. Has tempo loads of notes (currency) reached the Congress? What deal has been arrived at, that abusing Ambani-Adani has stopped overnight,” PM Modi asked.

Gandhi has repeatedly alleged that the Modi government has bestowed preferential treatment to the two industrialists. “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 (stolen goods). You have to answer the nation,” the prime minister added.

In a few hours, in a video, Gandhi retorted that Modi was “worried” and said that he was speaking of “tempos” out of experience. “Modi ji, looks like you are worried … You usually speak of Adani-Ambani in closed doors, but now you have spoken about them publicly. Since you spoke of money coming in tempos, do you have prior experience of that? Why don’t you let the CBI and ED start a probe on the matter,” Gandhi said.

On Tuesday, Gandhi had made a reference to Adani in his rally in Jharkhand, where he said people have to decide whether they would want to have a ‘Modi-Adani sarkar’ or a government of Dalits, backwards, farmers, tribals and the poor that provides jobs and create a large number of ‘lakhpatis’.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, too, said that “times are changing”. “Friends are no longer friends! After completion of three phases of elections, today the Prime Minister has started attacking his own friends. This shows that Modi-ji's chair is shaking. This is the real trend of the result.”

In Rae Bareli, General Secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra said, “The PM calls my brother ‘Shehzada’ (prince) but he is ‘Shehenshah’ (emperor)...He is giving clarifications because people are seeing that the entire country’s property has been given to some billionaires…”