Days after dealing a body blow to Congress and the Opposition by distancing himself from the demands for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Adani issue, NCP leader Sharad Pawar on Tuesday made a U-turn of sorts and said he will give up on his opposition in the interest of opposition unity.

“If our friends in Opposition parties insist on a JPC probe, then for the sake of Opposition unity, we will not oppose it. We will not agree with their view, but to ensure our stand does not harm the Opposition unity, we will not insist on it,” Pawar told Marathi news channel ABP Majha.

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Pawar’s volte-face will come as a sigh of relief for the Opposition which received a major setback when Pawar said that the allegations levelled against the Adani Group by US-based short-seller Hindenburg did not merit a JPC probe. Questioning the credibility of the short-seller, Pawar said that the JPC would anyways become meaningless given the BJP’s majority in the committee.

On Tuesday, Pawar, however, softened his stand and said he will withdraw his objection to the JPC. “The strength of the JPC will be based on the strength of political parties in Parliament. BJP has over 200 MPs and will have maximum members in a 21-member JPC. The Opposition will have 5-6 members. Will such a small number be able to play an effective role? But still, if the Opposition parties insist on a JPC probe, I will have no objection to it,” he told ABP Majha.

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Pawar had earlier said that he did not agree with the Opposition stalling the functioning of Parliament on the Adani issue. Published on January 24, the Hindenburg Research report accused the Adani Group of “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud”, claiming that the group companies had “substantial debt” including pledging shares of their inflated stock for loans, putting the entire group on “precarious financial footing”.