New Delhi: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar met industrialist Gautam Adani in Ahmedabad on Saturday. They inaugurated a factory at a village in Sanand after which Pawar visited Adani’s office and residence, news agency PTI reported.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), the NCP veteran posted photos of him and Adani cutting a ribbon at the factory and captioned it, “It was a privilege to inaugurate India's first Lactoferrin Plant Exympower in Vasna, Chacharwadi, Gujarat along with Mr. Gautam Adani.”
The meeting comes amid the Opposition’s demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the allegations levelled by US short seller Hindenburg. Sharad Pawar is a key member of the Opposition I.N.D.I.A alliance and was the host of the last meeting held in Mumbai.
Sharing the photos of Pawar and Adani, BJP’s national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla said the pictures speak a thousand words only if Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was “willing to listen”.
Taking to X, Poonawalla shared Pawar’s post and wrote, “I just hope that Sharad Pawar ji won’t be abused by likes of Alka Lamba again merely because nobody in INDI Alliance takes @RahulGandhi or his utterances seriously. This picture speaks a thousand words provided Rahul Gandhi is willing to listen.”
This is not the first time that Pawar’s closeness with Adani has come to light. Earlier in April, Adani visited the NCP leader’s residence Silver Oak in south Mumbai. The meeting, which lasted for almost two hours, came within days of Sharad Pawar coming out in support of Gautam Adani and criticising the narrative being built around the Hindenburg report. The NCP veteran had also said he would favour a Supreme Court panel probing the allegations against the Adani group.
Moreover, in his Marathi autobiography 'Lok Maze Saangatiâ', which was published in 2015, Sharad Pawar described Adani as a "hard-working, simple, down to earth" person. He also wrote that it was at his insistence that Adani ventured into thermal power sector.