Modi's party distances itself from India's Adani amid opposition protests

NEW DELHI - Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party said it had no reason to defend billionaire Gautam Adani on Tuesday following his U.S. indictment over alleged bribery to secure power deals in India.

The main opposition Congress party has accused Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of shielding Adani and stonewalling independent investigations into his dealings in the country, charges the ruling party has denied. Congress workers have also held street protests demanding a parliamentary probe.

U.S. prosecutors have charged Adani, the ports-to-power group's founder, his nephew Sagar Adani and six others for their alleged roles in a $265 million scheme to bribe Indian officials to secure power supply deals across five Indian regions.

The group has denied the charges, calling them "baseless" and adding that it would "seek all possible legal recourse".

Federal Indian investigating agencies and the markets regulator have not commented on the indictment and did not respond to Reuters queries.

"We have nothing to defend him and we are not involved. Let him defend himself," BJP spokesperson Gopal Krishna Agarwal said by phone. "We are not against industrialists. We consider them as partners in nation-building. But the law will take its own course if they do something wrong."

Agarwal's comments came after a state ruled by an alliance including the BJP, Andhra Pradesh, said it would explore if it was possible to cancel a power supply contract linked to the Adani Group in the state.

Sources told Reuters on Tuesday that Andhra was likely to suspend the contract and ask the federal government to investigate the charges.

Adani Group and the Andhra government did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

U.S. authorities have charged Gautam Adani and the other defendants with agreeing to pay bribes to unnamed Indian government officials to obtain solar power-supply contracts in Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh and Andhra Pradesh states, as well as the federal territory of Jammu and Kashmir, between 2021 and 2022.

All the states named by U.S. authorities were at the time ruled by parties opposed to Modi's ruling alliance. Those parties have denied any wrongdoing, saying they had not dealt with Adani but a federal government agency.

The Adani Group has businesses across Indian states ruled by different parties, and the BJP's Agarwal said he expected those to continue.

"They have exposure in all states. And projects will continue, they will keep running," he said. REUTERS