Targets Guj CM In Latest Expose
New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) members Arvind Kejriwal and Prashant Bhushan on Tuesday targeted Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of giving away thousands of crores in land, gas and coal blocks to private companies at throwaway prices.
In their sixth “expose’’, Kejriwal and Bhushan said Modi had favoured Adani Group on power purchase and land allotment besides giving gas fields worth Rs 20,000 crore to private companies — Jubilant Energy and Geo Global — for “free”, adding that their disclosures were evidence that the rivalry between Congress and BJP was a pretense and that the two parties were actually “business partners’’ in private.
Questioning Modi's credentials as ‘vikas purush’ and claims about his honesty, the duo leveled a series of charges against the CM, targeting him for allegedly allowing Adanis to “walk away” with coal blocks without supplying power at cheap rates as per agreement.
They also alleged that Modi “gifted’’ away 20% stake of $20 billion worth of gas blocks acquired by stateowned Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) in the KG basin to Geo Global and Jubilant Enpro causing an estimated loss of Rs 20,000 crore to the public exchequer.
Questioning the process of shortlisting the two companies, Kejriwal said Geo Global, owned by Jean Paul Roy, was incorporated just six days before the agreement with GSPC and was expected to provide technical assistance. Not only did Geo Global admit to Securities and Exchange Commission in the US that it did not have the requisite expertise but the agreement gave the company gas fields free of cost.
A similar agreement by Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance with British Petroleum ended in the latter paying Reliance an amount of $7.3 billion (Rs 35,000 crore) to acquire 30% stake and to provide technical assistance.
Kejriwal also alleged that Geo Global had received benefits from the UPA government as well with production sharing contracts in KG basin, Cambay basin, Deccan Syneclise basin and Bikaner Nagaur basin.
