Obviously GVK will deny: Chaturvedi on handing over airport to Adani

Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi on Wednesday said that the Mumbai airport changed hands ‘at the speed of light’. The Shiv Sena leader took to Twitter and said that GVK group will deny there was ‘pressure’ to handover the Mumbai airport.
“The fact remains that airport in Mumbai changed hands at the speed of light: – 26 June 2020 CBI registered a case against GVK – 1 July CBI raided them – 7 July ED registered money laundering case & summons by CBI – 31 Aug agrement signed to handover the airports to Adani Group,” she tweeted.
She said that GVK group will deny that there was pressure to handover. She said when central government agencies ED and CBI can raid them once at ‘behest’ of the government, they can do it ‘again.’
“Obviously the GVK group will deny there was pressure to handover the airport because when ED, CBI can knock on their door once at the behest of GoI then they can do it again to save face of GoI,” she tweeted. This comes at a time when Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that the Narendra Modi government had tweaked rule to favor Adani and India’s most profitable airport was ‘taken away from GVK ‘using agencies.’
“This rule was changed by the government and Adani was given six airports. After that India’s most strategic, profitable airport, Mumbai Airport, was taken away from GVK using agencies,” said Rahul Gandhi.
“The result is 24 per cent of India’s air traffic and 31 per cent of air freight passes through Adani’s airports,” he added.
The Congress leader attacked the government and said that Gautam Adani, Chairman of Adani Group, fortunes rose after BJP came to power in 2014.
However, GVK group has denied the allegations. GV Sanjay Reddy, did not force GVK to hand over Mumbai Airport to the Adani Group.
In July 2021, GVK handed control of the Mumbai airport over to Adani Airport Holdings Ltd. Gandhi earlier alleged that the Modi government “hijacked” “India’s most profitable airport” from GVK using agencies like CBI and ED and gave it to Adani. However, Reddy told NDTV that there was no such pressure from anyone.
Prior to the sale, GVK was considering fundraising since the debt that its airport holding company had incurred while buying Bengaluru Airport was about to become due.
There were, nevertheless, a number of restrictions on their investment. The coronavirus epidemic started right then. The airport business was closed for three months and did not generate any money, Reddy said.
The Adani Group has been under fire since US short seller Hindenburg Reserach accused the Adani Group of ‘brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades.’