Parliament Budget Session: Both Houses adjourned for the day amid Opposition protests on the Adani issue

Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day on Friday as Opposition members raised slogans demanding a discussion and a joint parliamentary committee probe into the fraud-allegation-triggered rout in Adani Group company stocks. The Rajya Sabha was adjourned on Friday till 2.30 pm following an uproar by the opposition members demanding a discussion on the Adani issue.

The Narendra Modi dispensation has been "stalling" the Opposition's demand for discussions on every issue which it feels would embarrass it, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor alleged Friday, slamming the government for "not allowing" discussion in Parliament on the Adani Group stock rout.

Opposition's allegation that investments by LIC in the Adani Group were made at the government's behest and said there was no justification to the demands for a joint parliamentary committee probe into the matter.

Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned till 2 pm and 2:30 pm, respectively, on Friday due to protests by opposition members into the fraud-allegation-triggered rout in the group's stocks, with members in the Lower House demanding a probe by a joint parliamentary committee (JPC).

Wrongdoing in these investments, if any, would be probed by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Rajya Sabha member said.

Soon after the House met for the day, Opposition members were on their feet shouting slogans and demanding a probe into the tanking of the Adani Group scrips and sought a probe into the business practices of the corporate giant. Speaker Om Birla appealed to members to stop their protests and participate in the discussions. However, an unrelenting Opposition continued their protests and sloganeering, forcing the speaker to adjourn the proceedings till 2 pm.

After the House met for the second time in the day, opposition members continued with their demand. Amid sloganeering, Rajendra Agarwal, who was in the Chair, allowed the laying of parliamentary papers in the House.

Agarwal also appealed to Opposition members to go back to their seats and allow discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address to a joint sitting of both Houses of Parliament. As protest continued, he adjourned Lok Sabha for the day.

Recently, Hindenburg Research published a report accusing the Adani conglomerate of engaging in “brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud scheme over the course of decades.