In an interview on Friday , a news channel in which the Gautam Adani-led Adani Group is the majority shareholder, Pawar distanced himself from the Congress’s demand of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the report by short-selling firm Hindenburg and said he did not agree with stalling of Parliament by the Congress-led Opposition on the matter.

“…This time out-of-proportion importance was given to the issue. The issues that were raised, who raised them, we had never heard of these people (Hindenburg) who gave the statement, what is their 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,” Pawar said.

The Hindenburg report published on January 24 alleged the Adani Group of “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud”. It claimed that the group companies had “substantial debt” including pledging shares of their inflated stock for loans, putting the entire group on “precarious financial footing”.

The Adani Group denied the allegations calling the report “malicious” and “baseless.”

The report led to a sharp decline in the share price and market capitalisation of Adani companies. The group’s market cap has declined 52 per cent since the report was released to Rs 911,272 crore on April 7.

“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,” Pawar said, adding that he did not agree with the “Adani-Ambani” style of targeting big business houses.

Noting that Parliament had been stalled earlier too, particularly over the 2G issue, Pawar said: “…One has the right to speak strongly about the policies of the government. But a discussion should take place… I have spent 56 years in the Vidhan Sabha and Parliament and I have seen such problems… but after this happened in the evening, the next morning was a normal morning…These days, like carrying out an extreme struggle is not right, likewise cancelling the dialogue process is not right too. Both these things coincided and the whole Session got washed out.”

Reacting to Pawar’s remarks, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said: “The NCP may have its views but 19 like-minded Opposition parties are convinced that the PM-linked Adani Group issue is real and very serious. But all 20 like-minded Opposition parties including the NCP are united and will be together in saving the Constitution and our democracy from the BJP’s assaults and in defeating the BJP’s divisive and destructive political, social and economic agenda.”

Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra tweeted: “Adani owned channel interviewing Adani’s friends to tell us how he is being targeted. Long live Indian Media — you truly are a rare species!” The TMC, incidentally, has not backed the Congress’s demand for a JPC probe into the Adani issue.

BJP national spokesperson Prem Shukla said: “An Indian corporate can not be probed just because of allegations labelled by a foreign short-seller…Other parties which are aware of the administrative and commercial system of the country, know the truth and are putting forth their views.”

The Congress, led by Rahul Gandhi, has been consistently raising the allegations in the Hindenburg report. Rahul has also called his disqualification as MP following conviction in a defamation case as linked to the questions he has been asking the government on the matter.

The recent Budget Session of Parliament was washed out as the Opposition, including the NCP, came together to raise the Adani issue.

On the Congress’s demand for a JPC probe into the Adani issue, Pawar reiterated his earlier statement on the Supreme Court having set up a probe. “If a parliamentary committee is appointed, then the monitoring is with the ruling party. The demand is against the ruling party, and if the committee appointed for an inquiry has the ruling party in majority, then how will the truth come out is a valid concern. If the Supreme Court, which no one can influence, if they were to conduct the inquiry, then there is a better chance of the truth coming to light. So, after the Supreme Court announced an inquiry, there is no significance of a JPC probe.”

Asked why he thought the Congress was seeking a JPC probe, Pawar said he could not say. “Maybe the reasoning could have been that once a JPC starts, its proceedings are reported in the media on a daily basis. Perhaps someone would have wanted the issue to fester for two-four months, but the truth would never have come out.”

Pawar said political issues can come up “one or two days” in Parliament, but “to ignore the issues of the common people regularly is not right”. “I do not want to blame any one party. Apart from the Congress, the Left and other parties were involved too. They set aside some major issues and highlighted some other issues before Parliament and the problems of the common people got neglected.”

Asked about Opposition unity, Pawar said that while it was important, “there should be clarity on issues”.

“People like us, we want Opposition unity, but our thrust is on development. We have other people who want Opposition unity, but this Leftist thinking in their minds, they do not want to move away from it. Opposition unity will only work with a specific programme and a direction… When the national elections come, if we do something together, it is different. Otherwise it will be very difficult to ignore the BJP.”

The NCP chief added that the “Adani-Ambani” style of targeting big business houses was meaningless, comparing it to the “Tata-Birla” narrative of the past.

“Many years ago, when we came into politics, if we had to speak against the government, we used to speak against Tata-Birla… When we understood the contribution of the Tatas, we used to wonder why we kept on saying Tata-Birla. But one had to target someone, so we used to target Tata-Birla. Today, different Tata-Birlas have come… So these days if you have to attack the government, the names of Ambani and Adani are taken… If the people you are targeting, if they have done something wrong… then in a democracy you have the right to speak against them 100 per cent. But to attack without anything meaningful… Today Ambani has contributed in the petrochemical sector, does the country not need it? In the field of electricity, Adani has contributed. Does the country not need electricity?”

Earlier, the NCP had spoken out against Rahul’s attack on V D Savarkar, by repeating the charge that he had apologised to the British. After ally Uddhav Sena stayed away from an Opposition meeting following Rahul’s remarks, Pawar had advised Rahul to refrain from attacking Savarkar.