Rejoinder from Adani Group to National Herald story

Adani Group has issued the following rejoinder to National Herald’s story ‘From ‘kaamdar’ to ‘daagdar’: PM Narendra Modi is no longer ‘Mr Clean’

Subject: Inaccuracies in the story From ‘kaamdar’ to ‘daagdar’: PM Narendra Modi is no longer ‘Mr Clean’

Dear Mr Editor,

https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/opinion/from-kaamdar-to-daagdar-prime-minister-narendra-modi-is-no-longer-mr-clean

With respect to your story “From ‘kaamdar’ to ‘daagdar’: PM Narendra Modi is no longer ‘Mr Clean’

Investigative journalism is always appreciated when presented with facts and substantiated with evidence. But it seems that the Adani Group has been unnecessarily dragged in this story. While these facts are available in the public domain please read the point-by-point clarification to your story;

In the 2nd paragraph of your story, you have mentioned that Mr Narendra Modi during his election campaign flew in private jet of the Adani Group

The Adani Group runs non-scheduled flight operations (NSOP) with a fleet of four aircrafts which are operated under Karnavati Aviation and the services are available on commercial basis much like the Congress using GMR aircraft. A clarification on the same was  given by the group chairman Mr Gautam Adani way back in 2016..

Political parties should not unnecessarily drag corporates into their politics: Gautam Adani

In the 3rd paragraph, you have mentioned about the dizzying rise in the fortunes of the Adani Group under political fortunes of Mr Modi.

Adani Group was formed in 1988, and over its 30 years journey, the group has witnessed growth under Congress regime as well, or for the matter of fact more under Congress then under BJP. In the above mentioned interview, Mr. Gautam Adani has clarified the same. Please refer the quotes mentioned below.

“In our case, we have been working with every political party. We are working in Congress-ruled states with all our sincerity. No infrastructure building can happen without state government support. We always go where the state is supporting and interested in development.

We do not go anywhere where we are unwanted. In Rajasthan, it was the Ashok Gehlot government that gave us land. We were in Congress-NCP ruled Maharashtra. We were there in three states —Gujarat, Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Two were Congress-ruled till recently.”

Today we are practically operating out of all the states of India, be it Gujarat, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Tamilnadu, Goa, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Chattishgarh, West Bengal , Jharkhand, Odisha, Himachal Pradesh, etc. We are a serious infrastructure entity with a successful track record of implementing and operating large infrastructure projects across the country. We would like to put on record that we are getting sufficient support from all the states and this is understandable as this sector is the priority sector for the government and the backbone of growth for the economy. The scale of our interactions with government of Gujarat is little higher as we have our headquartered here.

And lastly your story also talks of Mr. Adani breaching protocol by travelling with Prime Minister to Australia and the high table was also chaired by the then Chairperson of SBI, Mrs Arundhati Bhattacharya.

You can find the response from SBI which clearly states that they never agreed to Adani group’s Australian coal project. An MOU was signed between Adani Group and SBI to assess to project viability and this was not done under the presence of Prime Minister.

SBI says never agreed to fund Adani Group's Australian coal project

Here is a another news update that substantiate our point.

Went on 4 of PM's 18 foreign visits: Adani

Thanking You,

Paresh Chaudhry

Group President - Corporate Brand Custodian| Adani Group