NEW DELHI: Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of "covering up" the alleged corruption of businessman Gautam Adani.
In a post on X, he said, the PM maintains silence when questions are asked in the country and terms it a personal matter when asked abroad.
"If you ask questions in the country, there is silence, If you ask abroad, it is a personal matter! "Even in America, Modi Ji covered up Adani Ji's corruption!" Gandhi charged in his post in Hindi.
To a question on whether the issue relating to Adani figured in the talks, PM Modi at a joint media briefing in Washington said: "India is a democracy and our culture is 'Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam'. We consider the whole world as one family. I believe every Indian is mine."
Modi said such individual matters are not discussed in talks between two leaders. "Two prominent leaders of two countries never discuss such individual issues," he said.
In November, a US federal court in New York unsealed an indictment charging Adani Group Chairman Gautam Adani and other executives in an alleged $250 million bribery scheme. The US Department of Justice said Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani, and another official face charges of securities and wire fraud.
Prosecutors said Adani and associates paid bribes to Indian officials to secure favorable terms for solar power contracts, concealing the scheme from US banks and investors who funded the project. The deals were expected to generate over $2 billion in post-tax profits over two decades.
The Adani Group has denied the allegations, calling them "baseless."
Notably, US law allows prosecution of foreign corruption cases if they involve links to American investors or markets.