Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Although former Congress President Rahul Gandhi has since 2014 made no political capital by relentlessly accusing the ruling BJP of working at the behest of ‘crony capitalists’ Mukesh Ambani and Gautam Ambani, his own party-run Rajasthan government is the biggest beneficiary of the two billionaire business magnets’ investment proposals—totaling Rs.1,68,000 crore!
According to the media reports, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot’s government, under its “Invest in Rajasthan” outreach program, received the biggest investment pledges from the Gautam Adani-led Adani Group and the Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Ltd in the last few months.
The Adani Group and the RIL pledged over Rs 1,68,000 crore between December 2021 and March 2022 in Letters of Intent (Lois) and Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) with the Rajasthan government, data by the state’s Bureau of Investment Promotion (BoIP) following the RTI application showed.
Their pledge accounts for nearly 18 percent of the total value of the investment pledge of Rs 940,453 crore during the period in Rajasthan.
The ‘Invest Rajasthan’ program is the “State’s active investor outreach program comprising domestic, national, and international investor meets, embassy connect programs, and virtual seminars. The program aims at soliciting investment proposals, processing them on a mission mode, and taking them to fruition.”
Even in February this year, Rahul Gandhi had accused the BJP of “crony capitalism” and said Adani and Ambani were the ‘double-A variant’ spreading in the nation’s economy, leading to monopolies across various sectors.
Reliance New Energy Solar Ltd made an investment pledge of Rs 100,000 crore, Adani Green Energy Ltd of Rs 60,000 crore, followed by Adani Infra Ltd, Adani Total Gas Ltd, and Adani Wilmar Ltd at Rs 5,000 crore, Rs 3,000 crore, and Rs 246.08 crore, respectively, the media reported.