Karnataka coalition signals formation of anti-BJP front: Moily

Agencies

May 22, 2018

Hyderabad, May 22: The swearing-in of JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy as Karnataka Chief Minister tomorrow would signal the formation of a "secular" and anti-BJP front in the country, Senior Congress leader M Veerappa Moily said on Tuesday.

The former Union Minister said the expected presence of a galaxy of opposition leaders at the oath-taking ceremony in Bengaluru is "really a forerunner meeting" towards building such a front. "All opposition, many of whom have not joined together at any time earlier....first time they are joining together... it signals the formation of anti-BJP, and positively for the secular front in the country," the former Karnataka Chief Minister told PTI.

According to him, the coming together of the Congress and JD(S) in Karnataka is a "landmark" and a "good beginning" towards consolidation of political forces against the BJP. "This is the beginning of the decline of the graph of NDA, more particularly Prime Minister Narendra Modi", Moily claimed.

"This is the emergence of an era of consolidation, the era of secularism". He said in the recent Assembly elections in Gujarat, as well as the just-concluded one in Karnataka, there was a total absence of Modi wave. "If Modi wave was there in Karnataka, this could not have been the figure (election results).

The very fact that the BJP scored the same percentage of votes as in 2008, even when Modi was not present, goes to show that Modi wave did not matter. There is no relevance", Moily said. "In any election to come in other States, it will be fought on the level-playing ground and without Modi wave," he said.

On whether the Congress is ready to play second fiddle in States where it's not strong in next year's Lok Sabha polls, Moily said what is important is Modi and BJP "should go in 2019 and democratic and secular forces should emerge." As for several Prime Ministerial aspirants among the anti-BJP parties, he said everything, including PM candidate, will "evolve" and there is no difficulty at all.

"This kind of emerging wave against the BJP, for the evolution of democratic and secular forces, cannot be stopped at all by any forces," Moily claimed. He also hit back at the BJP for terming the JDS-Congress coalition as an "unholy alliance."

"They had also joined hands with JDS (in the past), was it unholy? They had 24 political parties (in NDA) when (Atal Behari) Vajpayee was Prime Minister, was it unholy? it's (like) devil quoting scripture," Moily added.

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Adani Group in Crisis: $30 Billion Wiped Out after US Bribery and Fraud Charges Emerge

News Network

November 21,2024

Shares of Adani Group companies lost about $28 billion in market value in morning trade on Thursday after US prosecutors charged the billionaire chairman of the Indian conglomerate in an alleged bribery and fraud scheme.

Gautam Adani's flagship company Adani Enterprises tumbled 23 per cent, while Adani Ports, Adani Total Gas, Adani Green, Adani Power, Adani Wilmar and Adani Energy Solutions, ACC , Ambuja Cements and NDTV fell between 20 per cent and 90 per cent.

Adani group's 10 listed stocks had a total market capitalisation of about $141 billion at 0534 GMT, compared to $169.08 billion on Tuesday.

US authorities said Adani and seven other defendants, including his nephew Sagar Adani, agreed to pay about $265 million in bribes to Indian government officials to obtain contracts expected to yield $2 billion of profit over 20 years, and develop India's largest solar power plant project.

Adani Green in a statement on Thursday said the US Justice Department had issued a criminal indictment against board members Gautam Adani and Sagar Adani and the Securities and Exchange Commission had issued a civil complaint against them.

The US Justice Department also included Adani Green board member Vneet Jaain in the criminal indictment, it said.

Adani Green's units had decided not to proceed with the proposed US dollar denominated bond offerings due to developments, it added.

"Investors will shy away from Adani Group stocks ... and that's what this sharp selling is signifying," said Saurabh Jain, assistant vice president of retail equities research at SMC Global Securities.

"This could hurt the credibility of the group and maybe borrowing costs will rise," he said.

The indictment comes nearly two years after US shortseller Hindenburg Research alleged that Adani had improperly used tax havens and was involved in stock manipulation, allegations the conglomerate denied.

Also in early Asian trading on Thursday, Adani dollar bonds slumped, with prices down 3c-5c on bonds for Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone. The falls were the largest since the Adani Group came under a short-seller attack in February 2023.

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