Aam Aadmi Party's Kejriwal: Narendra Modi gave favours to cos

NEW DELHI: AamAadmi Party convenorArvindKejriwal has challenged the credentials of NarendraModi in the run up to the Gujarat elections, alleging he had showered largesse on corporate houses and politicians, including Congress leaders who allegedly shared the spoils.

Modi has been in the limelight as BJP’s potential prime ministerial candidate with an image of a decisive leader with financial integrity and growth-oriented policies, but Kejriwal alleged Gujarat’s chief minister’s record was not unblemished. The ‘expose’, Kejriwal’s first since he launched his party, drew strong rebuttals from BJP and Congress.

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He buttressed his case by citing examples of various decisions by the Gujarat government in the last decade — including giving stakes in Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation’s gas field in the prolific KG Basin to companies, allotment of land to members of Parliament and the legislative assembly and deals with the Adani group in the power sector.

He claimed the Modi government entered into improper production sharing agreements with Geo Global and Jubilant Enpro. “Modi gave away 10% of participating interest to each of these two companies completely free of cost,” he alleged. Kejriwal also alleged a Congress nexus citing the fact that Shyam Bhartia, the promoter of Jubilant Empro was married to Shobhana Bhartia, the Chairperson and Editorial Director of a media company, who was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the Congress-led government.


Jubilant strongly denied any impropriety saying it won the block under international competitive bidding under the third round of New Exploration Licensing Policy and it pays its 10% share of expenditure. “Jubilant is the original partner in this block along with GSPC, as the Operator of the Block. This block was awarded by the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India, along with 22 other blocks at the same time to various parties, both PSU’s and private sector.

This block was originally an exploration block and the first discovery in this block was made much later in 2005,” the company said in a statement. The Adani group said the allegations were baseless and motivated. Kejriwal was very critical of Geo Global, which he said was given a stake on the ground it would provide technical assistance. “Who is this person who started from Canada with just Rs 3,200 in his pocket and then went to Gujarat and was given wells worth Rs 20,000 crore? Then he came to Delhi and met Congress people and they favoured him so much that one after another he got wells in Cambay Basin, Deccan Syneclise Basin and Bikaner-Nagaur Basin.

The contracts with OIL, which is a central PSU, have happened during UPA regime. So Jean Paul Roy seems to be both Modi’s and Congress’ man.” Kejriwal even criticised the judiciary, and said members of Congress were also hand in glove with Modi, receiving benefits like land at throwaway prices. “On one side is Congress and on the other side is Modi. Though they trade charges publicly, behind the curtains they are happy doing business with each other and with the same set of people,” said Kejriwal, who has also targeted Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra, Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani, Cabinet minister Salman Khurshid and BJP leader Nitin Gadkari in recent weeks.

Kejriwal said he had received most of the documents of the ‘expose’ from suspended IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, whose wife Shweta has been fielded by Congress to take on Modi in Maninagar. Wondering why Bhatt did not use the material for his wife’s campaign against the Gujarat chief minister Kejriwal said, “Sanjiv Bhatt approached me. He gave some documents related to GSPC and Adani. What I don’t understand is why did he or his wife not raise these issues? Why didn’t he give these documents to Congress. I can’t understand Bhatt’s politics.”

Congress lashed out at Kejriwal for ‘rehashing’ the ‘core Congress campaign’ in Gujarat. Spokesperson Sandeep Dikshit brushed aside Kejriwal’s allegations that BJP and Congress were together. He said, “we have been raising these issues for nine years. Just because they are being noticed now or it suits Mr Kejriwal now doesn’t mean Congress has not raised them before.” BJP defended Modi earlier in Parliament as Congress MPs raised the issue. “The repeated adjournment initiated by Congress in both the Houses on the Gujarat gas deal is factually baseless and motivated.

The Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation has already circulated the Carried Interest Agreement with GeoGlobal Resources in 2010 itself,” BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.