Cong trashes BJP's 'Soros allegations', says govt putting ties with US at stake to save Adani

NEW DELHI: Dismissing the BJP's allegations of its leaders colluding with US investor George Soros, the Congress on Monday said the real conspiracy unravelling during the Parliament's Winter session is that the government would even put at stake India's ties with another country just to save Gautam Adani.

The opposition party alleged that Gautam Adani has been extended 'M (Modi)' security and to breach that one would have to cross the "dead body" of democracy.

"Since Parliament session began, we have been trying to raise issues but there is one issue the prime minister cannot tolerate and when that issue is raised, he loses self control. That one name is Adani. As soon as that name is taken, the PM gets rattled," Congress' media and publicity department head Pawan Khera said.

"No one has the right to stake our ties with a nation for one person. Those countries that help that industrialist, even if they enter our borders, they are given a clean chit and those countries that get a probe done on him...that is accused of being part of a conspiracy. What kind of foreign policy is this," Khera said in an apparent reference to China's alleged transgressions and US indictment of billionaire Gautam Adani.

Since Parliament started functioning, this conspiracy is unravelling of how the government is even putting at stake India's ties with other countries to save one person, Khera alleged in a video statement.

"This conspiracy began since about 2002. Then it was limited to a state but since 2014 this has now become an international conspiracy," he claimed.

"They accuse of (colluding with) Soros. Is this an issue? If this is an issue, we can also start talking about which minister's son does what with grants from Soros but this is not an issue. Are these issues that how many children of ministers are taking grants from Soros' organisations?" Khera said.

The issue is that the king's life is dependent on the parrot's life, he said.

This parrot does not eat chilies but it eats ports, electricity, coal, money of share market investors, tax payers money goes to this parrot, Khera said in an apparent swipe at Adani.

"To save this parrot, the king will go to any extent. You would have heard of Z security, Y security, Gautam bhai has 'M' security..It is not Madhabi (Buch) security but Modi security. This security is such that if anyone wants to reach Gautam Adani, he or she has to cross the dead body of democracy," Khera said.

The BJP quoted the Mediapart report but Mediapart has said that these things are baseless and there is no conspiracy, the Congress leader said.

"They also made allegations against US state department which also said that this can adversely affect ties. But the king wants to save the parrot and provide M security. They talked of a triangle, it is not a triangle or a square but a circle and in the middle of that circle are Gautam Adani and Modi," he said.

The BJP last week claimed that billionaire investor George Soros and some US-based agencies, investigative media platform Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP), and Rahul Gandhi occupy three sides of a "dangerous" triangle trying to destabilise India and stoke public disaffection for a regime change.

The ruling party had claimed a link between Rahul Gandhi and international forces, including an investigative media platform, trying to destabilise India.

The BJP on Sunday alleged that former Congress president Sonia Gandhi has links to an organisation financed by the George Soros Foundation and which has backed the idea of Kashmir as an independent nation.

The US has rejected the BJP's allegations that organisations funded by the US State Department and elements in the American "deep state" were behind attempts to destabilise India through targeted attacks on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and business tycoon Gautam Adani.

A spokesperson at the US embassy described the allegations as "disappointing" and asserted that the US government has been a champion of media freedom around the world.

Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Sunday had slammed the BJP after the US rejected the ruling party's allegations and said this "attack-dog" behaviour is an embarrassment to India.