New Delhi: Union minister Piyush Goyal, also a Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Mumbai North, while answering a question on Times Now on what Narendra Modi meant by his “sensation-causing” comments on “Ambani-Adani” sending “tempo-loads” of money “to the opposition by night”, said Modi himself must answer that. He said, “I am busy in my election campaign in Mumbai North. You will have to ask Narendra Modi ji what he meant.”Illustration: Pariplab ChakrabortyHe added, saying, “Kucch to badla hai (something has changed),” alluding to the same allegation hurled by Modi that Congress had gone quiet on the issue of the two billionaires. The two are particularly close to Modi and BJP and multiple reports show them benefitting enormously from their proximity. Rahul Gandhi meanwhile, other than having continuously named Ambani and Adani in his campaign speeches, put out a video on May 13, Monday night saying, “Today I was at Lucknow airport. From here to Mumbai and from Guwahati to Ahmedabad, the Prime Minister has handed over all the airports to his ‘tempo friend’. The country’s assets were sold for how many tempos, will Narendra Modi tell the public?” Meanwhile, in an interview published on May 13 with The Financial Express, Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said, “The PM is pointing that out by asking why, what happened. Therefore, the question arises have they got something from Adanis and Ambanis? Otherwise, why suddenly be silent? I think the PM asked that in that spirit.” The finance minister credited Congress with it as “their original issue”. The Bombay Sensex has seen sharp falls, attributed to volatility at election times but the falls have also coincided with the PM’s statement. In a follow up question, “As FM, what is your message to big businesses on this issue?”, she was defensive on the “trust” Modi lays on business. Sitharaman said, “I don’t need to add anything to what the PM has said. The showcasing of India’s businesses and entrepreneurship as people who loot has been a completely disastrous narrative for the Congress. If it had to retract from the allegation, there was a graceful way of doing this. But Congress leaders think that by suddenly silencing themselves, people will no longer notice their hatred for business and entrepreneurship. I think the PM has called that out. Modi as chief minister or PM has always laid trust in India’s entrepreneurship — small, medium and large…”Alt News has fact-checked the PM’s claims that Congress has gone silent and found that Ambani and Adani remain regular targets in Rahul Gandhi’s campaign speeches.PM Modi though has remained silent since last week on the matter.