Recently, Anil Ambani led Reliance Communications filed for bankruptcy. The firm was struggling for quite a while and the move did not come as a shock to anyone. However, the Congress Party again showed the selective amnesia they have become known for. Taking a pot shot at the bankruptcy filing by the Reliance Communications, the Congress party stated, “Anil Ambani led Reliance Communications has filed for bankruptcy after failing to payback its lender – maybe Modiji can help him out by signing over another defence contract he is completely unqualified to handle.”
Anil Ambani led Reliance Communications has filed for bankruptcy after failing to payback its lender – maybe Modiji can help him out by signing over another defence contract he is completely unqualified to handle. https://t.co/phjUh6Loxl
— Congress (@INCIndia) February 2, 2019
The crown-prince was not far behind in taking a pot-shot at Anil Ambani led group.
Merit according to Modi. https://t.co/Rc1XjJI20V
— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) February 2, 2019
The crown prince and the coterie of sycophants that is the Congress party have been trying, with rather dismal results, to target the Modi government over the issue of offset contracts in Rafale deal with the Anil Ambani led group. As has already been proven, there is no merit in the allegations. But, the party is not ready to let go of its delusions. In this ‘narrative of convenience’, the Crown-Prince completely forgot that it was the UPA government which had awarded contracts worth lakhs of crores. According to the Economic Times report, contracts worth 1, 00,000 crore were awarded to Anil Ambani’s businesses in last seven years of UPA government. The data is being collated from key ministries such as power, telecom, road transport and highways as well as government entities like the National Highways Authority of India, Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation. “All these projects were with the government agencies. We are looking at the processing time that went into these projects, and whether due processes were followed,” said an official.
The official has found many discrepancies in the deals awarded to Anil Ambani’s companies in the field of infrastructure and telecommunications. The deals to these companies were awarded in record time and they had grown exponentially in the infamous second term of UPA government. “The biggest spurt in growth was in Reliance Infrastructure, which by 2011 had transformed from an electricity distribution company to India’s largest infrastructure company within five years. Nearly 12 projects worth over Rs 16,500 crore were initiated, making Reliance Infrastructure the largest private developer of roads in the country. All this is being looked into,” said the government official.
The government is also seeking the details of the contracts awarded to the group by Maharashtra government in more than a decade of Congress rule in the state. The deals awarded to major companies of Anil Ambani led Reliance Group which includes Reliance Communications, Reliance Capital, Reliance Power, Reliance Infrastructure, Reliance Natural Resources, and Reliance Media-Works is being examined. Reliance group won 70,000 crore deal in power sector alone including power plants in Madhya Pradesh as well as many deals in infrastructure like Mumbai Metro’s line 1, Delhi Airport Metro Express line and road construction on Delhi-Agra, Bengaluru-Chennai, Pune-Satara, and Jaipur-Bikaner segments.
These figures raise certain important questions. Is Rahul Gandhi not aware of these contracts that were awarded to Anil Ambani led businesses during the UPA era? Or Anil Ambani was a successful businessman until 2014 but overnight turned into a failure, as the allegations by the Congress Party point to?
The simple answer to these questions is, Rahul Gandhi and the Congress party are desperate and in their desperation, they are trying everything but nothing seems to be working out so far. The lies have a very short half-life, lest they forget.