Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Friday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, alleging that the recent India-US trade talks was aimed at securing relief for billionaire Gautam Adani rather than strengthening trade ties.
His remarks came after reports that US authorities agreed to drop charges against the businessman in an alleged bribery scheme.
The Congress earlier said it was now clear why the prime minister agreed to what it called a “hopelessly one-sided” India-US trade deal and abruptly halted Operation Sindoor.
In a post on X, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "It is now clear why the PM agreed to the hopelessly one-sided Indo-US trade 'deal' that was really a steal by the US. And it is also clear why he abruptly halted Operation Sindoor on May 10 2025, acting on President Trump's threats rather than on our national interest."
"Reportedly, the Trump Administration is about to drop all charges of corruption against Modani," he wrote on X.
How much more "compromised" can the PM get, Ramesh asked.
The US government on Friday agreed to settle a lawsuit filed against Billionaire Gautam Adani and his nephew after they agreed to pay civil penalties of $6 million while his nephew agreed to pay $12 million.
In the lawsuit filed in late 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission accused Indian billionaire Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar Adani, both leaders of the energy company Adani Green Energy Limited of promising to pay Indian government officials the equivalent of hundreds of millions of dollars in exchange for government contracts to purchase energy at inflated rates.
At the same time, the company secured several billions of dollars from Wall Street investors who were allegedly assured that the company had a robust anti-bribery compliance program and were given promises from senior management that no bribery would take place.
Those actions, the SEC said at the time, violated antifraud provisions of US securities laws.