1,050 acres of land in Bihar's Bhagalpur 'gifted' to Adani as BJP defeat in state 'imminent, claims Cong

New Delhi, Sep 15 (PTI) The Congress on Monday accused the Modi government of giving away 1,050 acres of land in Bihar's Bhagalpur to the Adani Group as a "gift" for setting up a power plant, claiming that this was done as the BJP realised that its defeat in the upcoming assembly polls was "imminent".

There was no immediate reaction from the Centre, the Bihar government or the Adani Group on the allegations.

Addressing a press conference at the AICC headquarters here, the Congress' media and publicity department head, Pawan Khera, claimed that whenever the BJP feels that it will lose an election, "gifts" are given to businessman Gautam Adani beforehand.

"In Bhagalpur's Pirpainti in Bihar, 10 lakh trees and 1,050 acres of land have been given to 'rashtra seth' Gautam Adani for setting up a power plant at 1 rupee per year for 33 years. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting Bihar today, the villagers there have been placed under house arrest so that they cannot stage a protest," he claimed.

"When elections were held in Maharashtra, the power plant project and Dharavi were given to Gautam Adani just before that. Similarly, in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, projects were given to Gautam Adani before the elections. This is a very long list, and whenever the BJP feels that we will lose the election, gifts are given to Gautam Adani beforehand," he alleged.

Khera claimed that Prime Minister Modi is set to give 1,050 acres of land "to Adani".

"This is a 2,400-megawatt project with a budget of 21,400 crore rupees. Its announcement was also made in the budget. However, at that time, the government had said that it would set up the plant itself. But later, the government backed out and handed over this project to Gautam Adani," he said.

A plant built on Bihar's land, with the state's money, generating electricity from its coal, will be sold to Bihar's people at 6 rupees per unit, Khera said and alleged that this was "double loot".

The BJP first runs campaigns like 'Ek pedh ma ke naam' and then it values the same land, which farmers consider their mother, at just 1 rupee, he said.

"Farmers were intimidated, forced to sign with a pencil, and their land was taken. Then, the electricity generated from the same plant will be sold to the people of Bihar at the rate of 6.75 rupees/unit, while for Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, this rate is 3 to 4 rupees," he claimed. PTI ASK RT