Amid ruckus on Adani row, both houses of Parliament adjourned

The Lok Sabha was adjourned until 2 p.m. on Friday, while the Rajya Sabha was adjourned until 2:30 p.m. today, due to opposition parties reiterating their demand for a joint parliamentary committee probe into the stock market rout caused by the collapse of Adani Group company shares.

Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, DMK Rajya Sabha MP Tiruchi Siva, Congress MP Pramod Tiwari, BRS MP K Keshava Rao, Shiv Sena MP (Uddhav Thackeray faction) Priyanka Chaturvedi, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Dr Syed Naseer Hussain, and CPI(M) MP Elamaram Kareem,uspended business in their respective Houses in order to hold a debate on the allegations levelled by US-based Hindenburg Research against Adani Group.

When the Rajya Sabha reconvened for the day, Jagdeep Dhankhar urged members to allow the House to complete its assigned business. However, as members of the opposition chanted chants, he adjourned the proceedings until 2.30 p.m. Opposition lawmakers in the Lok Sabha also wanted a debate, but Speaker Om Birla refused, citing the importance of the Presidential Address. The House was postponed till 2 p.m. while the opposition protested.

Opposition parties met in Parliament today prior to the day’s session, Sanjay Singh, an Aam Aadmi Party Mp, called the adani stock row “corruption” and accused the Narendra Modi govt. of being involved.

“I have given a notice under Rule 267 today also, and we demand the constitution of a JPC or a Supreme Court-monitored time-bound inquiry of the matter. It is not the corruption of Adani alone, it is the corruption of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government. Adani has the protection of PM Modi,” Singh alleged.

He also requested an answer from the Prime Minister, claiming that he could not “escape” the inquiries. “Whose black money is this? If the Prime Minister is silent on the issue, his black money is there in foreign countries which are coming to India. Whose money was brought into Adani’s company through fake companies from the foreign land? PM Modi is surrounded by questions and cannot escape from answering,” the AAP MP said.

Shiv Sena MP (Uddhav Thackeray group), when asked about the uproar produced by the Opposition in the Parliament, warned that there will be a ruckus and alleged that the voices of the Opposition are being “suppressed”.

“If there will not be a ruckus on this issue, what other issue will the ruckus be for? It is a matter of looting the country. We will definitely create a ruckus when it comes down to LIC and SBI. The Parliament should run, and we will raise the issue. But our voices are suppressed. We are with the Congress demand for a JPC probe,” he said.

According to Congress MP K Suresh, the government is “not ready” to issue a comment on the matter. “We demanded a statement from the government yesterday. But the government is not ready to give any statement or clarification. The House was adjourned after he demanded a discussion on the issue. Today also we are moving an adjournment motion on the matter,” he said.

Mallikarjun Kharge, ahead of the joint meeting of Opposition parties said, “We have called the meeting of the Opposition party. We will discuss the steps to be taken further. We give notices according to the rules.”

Both houses of Parliament were adjourned for the day yesterday as the Opposition raised a fuss and requested a debate on the Hindenburg report on the Adani company.
On Thursday, opposition leaders urged a debate on the Hindenburg report against Adani Enterprises, as well as the formation of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to investigate the alleged irregularities.