In 2016, Rahul Gandhi, the opposition leader, accused Birla's firm of paying bribes to the then Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi. However, reportedly, Mr. Gandhi was "upset" at CBI when FIR was filed against Birla in Coal Blocks allocation scam in 2013. Coomi Kapoor wrote that Birla then happened to be "a benefactor of Rahul's constituency, Amethi". The Birla Group did not make any donations to the Rahul-led Indian National Congress in 2012-13 "after being its top donor with a donation of Rs 36.4 crore between 2004-5 and 2011-12." At the same time, Birla was the largest contributor to the Bhartiya Janata Party, donating Rs. 7.05 crore in 2012–13. Birla was eventually made the Chairman of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad as well as Indian Institute of Technology Delhi Board of Governors (in 2016) and a non-official independent director of Air India (in 2018) by Narendra Modi-led BJP government.