Sharad Pawar, Chief, NCP supports Adani Group; says Hidenburg report seems “targeted”.

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Chief Sharad Pawar on Saturday in an interview with NDTV said that the Adani Group is being targeted.

"Such statements were given by other individuals too earlier and there was a ruckus in parliament for a few days but this time out of proportion importance was given to the issue. The issues that were kept, who kept them, we had never heard of these people who gave the statement, what is the background. When they raise issues that cause a ruckus across the country, the cost is borne by the country's economy, we cannot disregard these things. It seems this was targeted," Mr Pawar told NDTV in an exclusive interview.

"An individual industrial group of the country was targeted, that is what it seems. If they have done anything wrong, there should be an inquiry."

Talking about the demand for JPC probe on the issue by the Congress party, the chief of NCP said he does not share the views of the party.

Pawar said he prefers the Supreme Court appointed committee probe with a retired Supreme Court judge, an expert, an administrator, and an economist rather than a JPC probe.

"If the Supreme Court, who no one can influence, if they were to conduct the inquiry, then there was a better chance of the truth coming to light. So, after the Supreme Court announced an inquiry, there was no significance of a JPC Probe. It was not needed," Pawar stated.

The NCP leader also disagreed with Rahul Gandhi's targeting of Ambani and Adani, claiming that the companies have made contributions to the petrochemical and energy industries.

On January 24, a US-based short- selling firm Hindenburg Research, published a report titled, “Adani Group: How The World’s 3rd Richest Man Is Pulling The Largest Con in Corporate History", where it alleges that their two-year investigation led to the revelation that the Adani Group has “engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades.

However, the Adani Group had denied the allegations calling the report malicious and baseless.