Centre protecting Adani as BJP gets poll funding: Cong

The Chhattisgarh Congress on Monday said the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government was covering up alleged irregularities in Gautam Adani's firms because the saffron party gets election funding from the billionaire industrialist.

Congress general secretary and Chhattisgarh in-charge Kumari Selja addressed party leaders and workers during a protest in Raipur over the Centre's failure to initiate a probe into US-based firm Hindenburg Research's allegations against the Adani Group.

The protest began at Ambedkar Chowk and ended at Raj Bhavan where party leaders submitted a memorandum to the governor seeking a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe.

"It has been a long time since Hindenburg made the disclosure against Adani, but so far neither has an FIR been registered nor has any kind of inquiry been ordered into it? Why is the Modi government silent?" Selja questioned.

The BJP and Modi government are silent on the issue as the ruling party gets funds from Adani, she alleged.

Speaking at the protest, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel asked why the prime minister and Centre were scared of ordering a probe into the fraud committed by the Adani Group.

Baghel also accused the Centre of murdering democracy and said people of the country has the right to know under whose influence Adani got such a huge investment from public sector banks and LIC.

US short seller Hindenburg Research has alleged the Adani group was "engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud", and used offshore shell companies to inflate stock prices.

The group has denied all Hindenburg allegations, calling them "malicious", "baseless" and a "calculated attack on India".