Opposition parties’ MPs stage a protest over Gautam Adani row in the Parliament complex, in New Delhi, on February 6, 2023.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Opposition MPs on February 6 held a protest in front of Gandhi statue in Parliament complex demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe or a Supreme Court-monitored investigation into the Adani issue.
Both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned till 2 p.m. after Opposition members held protest in Parliament seeking a discussion on the issue.
Adani group stocks have taken a beating on the bourses after U.S.-based activist short-seller Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation at the Gautam Adani-led group.
The Opposition parties have alleged that the meltdown in Adani Group shares is a scam that involves common people’s money as public sector LIC and SBI have invested in them.
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The Adani group has maintained that it complies with all laws and disclosure requirements. The protest by various Opposition parties followed a meeting on February 6 morning to coordinate their joint strategy in the House on the Adani issue.
Among the parties that participated in the meeting held in the chamber of Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge were the Congress, the DMK, the NCP, the BRS, the JDU, the SP, the CPM, the CPI, the JMM, the RLD, the RSP, the AAP, the IUML, the RJD and the Shiv Sena.
Trinamool Congress members skipped the meeting of Opposition leaders but joined the protest by the Opposition leaders in front of Gandhi statue in Parliament complex.
Raising slogans, Opposition MPs held a banner that read “we demand JPC or SC monitored probe on Adani scandal”. They also held posters and placards demanding JPC and saving public money of LIC, SBI invested in the Adani group.
“We demand a discussion on our notices, we are ready for a detailed discussion. We want the Adani issue to be taken up first,” Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge told reporters, asserting that the Opposition is ready to speak on the President’s Address.
The first demand of the Opposition is that Prime Minister Narendra Modi gives a reply on the issue, he said. Mr. Kharge claimed that the government does not want this matter to be raised and discussed in Parliament. “They want to avoid it somehow and do not want to bring it to record,” he said.
Congress MP and Whip in Lok Sabha Manickam Tagore has given a notice for adjournment of the house for raising the Adani issue.
“The House should come forward to discuss the matter keeping aside other routine business, and should constitute a Joint Parliamentary Committee to investigate further in this matter. The House should also direct the Prime Minister to disclose the actual loss of public money to the nation through this House,” Mr. Tagore said in his adjournment notice. Congress MP and Whip in Rajya Sabha Syed Naseer Hussain has also given a notice under Rule 267 for suspension of business to discuss the Adani issue.
“That this House do suspend Zero Hour and relevant rules relating to Question Hour and other businesses of the day to discuss the issue of frauds in investment by LIC, SBI, public sector banks and other financial institutions losing market value, endangering the hard-earned savings of crores of Indians,” he said in the notice.
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Congress MPs in Rajya Sabha Pramod Tiwari and Amee Yajnik have also given adjournment notices under Rule 267 to discuss the Adani issue and investments by LIC and SBI into the group.
BRS MPs in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have also given adjournment notices on the Adani issue. While BRS leader in Rajya Sabha K Keshava Rao has moved a notice under Rule 267 in the upper house, party MP Nama Nageswara Rao has moved a notice in the Lok Sabha to discuss the issue.