Congress questions govt over IOC's deal with Adani-owned port

New Delhi, February 17

The Congress on Friday alleged that the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), which had been importing LPG via the government-run Visakhapatnam port, was now being made to use the Adani-owned Gangavaram port through an “unfavourable” contract.

The allegation came a day after IOC took to Twitter to clarify its initial pact for hiring the Adani Group port for LPG imports in addition to existing pacts with nearby ports, saying there is no take-or-pay agreement.

IOC’s statement was issued in response to TMC leader Mahua Moitra’s allegation of a scam in hiring of the port facility without a tender.

Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh, as part of the party’s ‘Hum Adani ke Hain Kaun’ series, under which he poses three questions to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Twitter every day, said he had questioned the PM’s role in facilitating an Adani Group “monopoly” in the ports sector earlier and Friday’s questions were a follow-up.

Ramesh asked the Prime Minister why he was “intentionally undermining” the public sector that his government was meant to be stewarding on behalf of the citizens of India.

“Your government had previously blocked a 2021 bid by the Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust for the Dighi port in Maharashtra, which ended up in Adani’s hands,” the Congress leader charged.

“Do you view India’s public sector simply as a tool to enrich your cronies,” Ramesh asked Modi.

Ramesh said that IOC has clarified that it only signed a non-binding MoU with Adani Ports and that there is no binding take-or-pay agreement “as of now”.

“Did Adani Ports inadvertently reveal the game before it was finalised? Does the signing of an MoU not clearly indicate the direction in which IOC is being pushed? Does the fact that a take-or-pay contract was on the table not betray the fact that Adani was going to be made the primary port for the import of LPG rather than one of many, as IOC has stated,” he asked.