Gautam Adani, the chairman of the Adani Group and a billionaire, met with Sharad Pawar, the president of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), at his residence in Mumbai. This meeting took place shortly after Adani’s meeting with the Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Eknath Shinde. The details of the meeting between Adani and Pawar have not been disclosed by Pawar.
According to Pawar, a delegation from Singapore had contacted him and expressed their desire to meet Gautam Adani regarding a technical issue. As a result, Adani and the Singaporean delegation had a meeting to discuss this matter. Pawar mentioned that he did not possess much understanding of the technical issue that was discussed.
It is worth noting that this is the second meeting between Adani and Pawar within a span of two months. The previous meeting occurred in April after Hindenburg Research, a US-based short-seller, made a series of allegations against the Adani Group, including stock manipulation and fraudulent transactions. At that time, Pawar publicly supported Adani and took a different stance compared to his ally, the Congress party. He advocated for a Supreme Court committee to investigate the allegations, citing concerns about the BJP’s majority in a joint parliamentary committee (JPC), which raised doubts about the credibility of such a probe.
Pawar stated that while the NCP did not support the demands of certain parties for a JPC probe, it would impact their stance on opposition unity. This statement was made in response to the Supreme Court’s order to establish a six-member committee, led by a former Supreme Court judge, to examine the regulatory aspects of the stock markets, including the decline in Adani Group stocks following Hindenburg’s allegations.
The Opposition, led by the Congress party, demanded a JPC probe into the Adani issue.