Bhubaneswar, July 8: The Congress today accused the Narendra Modi government of showing undue favour to the Adani group in terms of shifting the LNG terminal project's location from Paradip to Dhamra and handing over the majority stake to it.

Congress leader and former Union minister Srikant Jena demanded a CBI probe and an audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) into the developments.

Addressing a news conference, Jena also sought to know the reasons behind chief minister Naveen Patnaik's silence on the issue.

"That means there is a nexus among the private operator, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Naveen Patnaik," he alleged.

The ground-breaking ceremony of the LNG terminal was today held in Dhamra, where Union petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan and others were present.

Jena said an MoU was signed between the public sector, Paradip Port Trust (PPT), and Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) on October 27, 2013 to set up an LNG terminal in Paradip.

While the PPT was to contribute Rs 650 crore equity share for the project, GAIL was to invest Rs 2,480 crore to set up the eight-million-tonne LNG terminal, scheduled to be commissioned in 2017. The joint venture project had been initiated during the UPA regime.

However, after the change in government at the Centre, GAIL backed out from the project and handed over the project's majority stakes to the Adani group.

Jena said the project's was then shifted to Dhamra from Paradip though the latter was the ideal location as Indian Oil Corporation Limited's oil refinery project was the bulk user.

Now, the Adani group commands the controlling power in the LNG terminal project as it is the single largest stakeholder (50 per cent), while public sector companies such as the IOCL and GAIL have 39 and 11 per cent shares, respectively.

"The controlling power was handed over to the company and the location was shifted. It was part of a bigger conspiracy to paralyse the PPT and the IOCL oil refinery and turn GAIL sick," alleged the former Union minister.

"The CBI probe and CAG audit will unearth what was the quid pro quo in the deal and who had taken the decision," said he.

The Congress leader also wanted chief minister Naveen Patnaik to make his stand clear on the project. "He (Naveen) might have skipped today's bhumi puja ceremony of the LNG terminal for political reasons. But, he owes a clarification on the project itself," said Jena.