Sharad Pawar visits Adani office, residence in Ahmedabad

New Delhi: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar, who had raised eyebrows when he met embattled billionaire Gautam Adani amidst demands by Opposition parties for a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into allegations levelled by US short seller Hindenburg, on Saturday visited the industrialist's office and residence in Ahmedabad.

Pawar and Adani first inaugurated a factory at a village in Sanand in Ahmedabad. The NCP chief thereafter visited Adani's residence and office in Ahmedabad, sources with direct knowledge of the matter said. It wasn't immediately known what transpired at the meeting. Pawar posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, pictures of him and Adani cutting a ribbon of the factory.

"It was a privilege to inaugurate India's first Lactoferrin Plant Exympower in Vasna, Chacharwadi, Gujarat along with Mr. Gautam Adani," Pawar posted on X. In April this year, Adani had visited Pawar's residence Silver Oak in south Mumbai. That meeting, which lasted for almost two hours, came within days of Pawar coming out in support of Adani and criticising the narrative being built around the Hindenburg report. His position was seen as variance with his allies such as Congress who had been gunning for a JPC to probe allegations of fraud and stock market manipulations. Adani has denied all allegations. Pawar had at that time stated that he favoured a Supreme Court committee probing allegations against the Adani group.

Adani had again visited Pawar's residence in June. The relationship between Pawar and Adani goes back nearly two decades. In his Marathi autobiography 'Lok Maze Saangatiâ', published in 2015, Pawar heaped praises on Adani who at the time was venturing into the coal sector. He described Adani as "hard-working, simple, down to earth" and with an ambition to make big in the infrastructure sector. The veteran leader also wrote that it was at his insistence that Adani ventured into the thermal power sector. Pawar recounts in the book how Adani built his corporate empire from scratch, starting as a salesman, in Mumbai locals, dabbling in small ventures before trying his luck in the diamond industry