CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Monday said the Adanis wouldn’t have committed alleged irregularities, which were made public by US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research, without the patronage of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union government.

Yechury’s attack against the Modi government comes a day after he demanded a Supreme Court-supervised probe into the accusations in the Hindenburg report. The Adani group has said the report is riddled with ‘multiple false narratives’ and ‘misleading claims.”

“The Union budget is due in two days and right before that, the truth about one of our Prime Minister’s close friends, Mr (Gautam) Adani, has come out,” Yechury said while addressing a rally organised by the CPM’s Calcutta district committee at Rani Rashmoni Avenue.

“Please understand how big a fraud this is. Without the patronage of our Prime Minister and the Union government, this wouldn’t have been possible,” he added.

In a recent report, Hindenburg Research accused the Adani group of stock manipulation and accounting fraud. The report has led to a sharp decline in the prices of shares of many Adani group companies.

Yechury said crores of rupees had been infused into various companies of the group through the LIC and the SBI as loans, and if the Adanis failed to repay them, it was people’s money that would go down the drain.

“Several businessmen have left the country. It shouldn’t happen again that one more businessman flees the country. They must be kept under strict vigilance so that they cannot run away after looting people’s money,” he added.

Asked by The Telegraph later whether the CPM’s stand against the Adani group would also affect the seaport being developed by the conglomerate at Vizhinjam in Left-ruled Kerala, Yechury said it was no longer in the party’s hands.

“See the agreement for the port was inked by the Congress government. Though we were opposed to it, now if we try to intervene, it will have large-scale legal and financial implications for the Kerala government,” Yechury said.

Monday’s rally was held to mark the conclusion of the three-day central committee meeting of the party that took place in Calcutta.

CPM’s state secretary Md Salim, Left Front chairman Biman Bose and other central committee members attended the rally.

Yechury said at the rally that the prime task would be to remove the BJP from power at the Centre and for that, all secular political forces must come together. However, he expressed doubts about the possible role of the Trinamul Congress in the effort to dislodge the Modi government.

“There is a question in Delhi: what is Trinamul doing? When it was the question of the presidential poll, Bengal’s ruling party was very excited. But during the vice-presidential election, the party changed its stand. Now, they don’t even oppose the Modi government in Parliament. They have gone to Tripura to help the BJP. What is the secret?” Yechury asked.