Adani bribery case rocks Parliament: Oppn accuses govt of avoiding debate

New Delhi: The government does not want a public debate on the Adani issue, Opposition leaders said on Monday as both Houses of Parliament were adjourned for the day amid demand for the suspension of business to take up the matter for discussion.

On Monday, leaders from several Opposition parties gave adjournment notices for discussion on the issue of the indictment of Adani group founder chairman Gautam Adani and others in a US court on bribery charges.

The Chair in both Houses of Parliament refused permission for the debate and adjourned proceedings for the day.

BJP member Sandhya Ray, who was in the chair, asked if the members were not keen to allow proceedings in the House. The chair then adjourned the proceedings till Wednesday.

"Yesterday, at the all-party meeting, the whole of the opposition proposed to take up a discussion on the bribe allegations against the Adani group. The charge is on Adani, but the BJP is feeling the pain," Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Pramod Tiwari said.

"Most parties had given notices to discuss the issue, the leader of the opposition objected that such an important issue was not being taken up. As a result, the House was adjourned till Wednesday," the Congress MP said.

"I do not understand, instead of adjourning the House, they could have discussed it. It shows that the government does not want to allow any public debate on the Adani issue. We are not raising this issue, the issue has been raised by the Department of Justice (US). It shows there is something wrong," he told PTI.

Another Rajya Sabha MP of the Congress, Ranjeet Ranjan said it is the government's responsibility to ensure the functioning of the House.

"It is the government's responsibility to ensure that the House runs. A warrant has been issued on the Adani group, is it wrong to demand a JPC (Joint Parliamentary Committee) on the issue? We are not making any allegation, but is it wrong to take up a debate on the issue," Ranjan asked.

"There are several important issues like pollution which cannot be discussed as the House has been adjourned for the whole day," she told PTI.

Lok Sabha MP from the Congress KC Venugopal said, "They are very much scared of discussing the Adani issue. They are not even ready to hear one word from the opposition on the issue."

"Within a second, they adjourned the House. They are scared of this issue being raised," he said, adding that the opposition will continue its agitation.

Congress MP Shahi Tharoor said both sides need to cooperate to ensure that the House functions.

"All opposition parties wanted to debate the issue, but the government was not ready. It should be discussed in the Business Advisory Committee. The point is everyone should be taken along to make Parliament function, all important issues should be discussed," the Lok Sabha member from Thiruvananthapuram said.

"As an MP, I want to come here and debate, but it needs cooperation from both sides," he added.

Rajya Sabha member from the Aam Aadmi Party Sanjay Singh said there are serious allegations against Adani which need to be discussed.

"The Modi government is not allowing Parliament to function, We want Adani's corruption to be discussed. It is causing ignominy for India in the US, Australia, all over the world," he said.

"Adani gave bribes to officials under the Modi government, and sold expensive electricity to the people of India, we want to discuss that. The Supreme Court has said there should be competitive bidding. Government is running away from discussion," Singh alleged.

Dola Sen of the Trinamool Congress said it felt like the treasury benches did not want to run the House as it adjourned the proceedings even though there was no ruckus.

"Today, sitting in the Rajya Sabha, I felt the treasury bench did not want to run the House. Nothing happened, there was no ruckus, no one staged any protest, but there were two adjournments, and the second time, it was adjourned for the day. It was the policy of the treasury bench, they are blaming us unnecessarily," she claimed.

Adani has been charged by US prosecutors for allegedly being part of a scheme to pay over USD 250 million (about Rs 2,100 crore) in bribes to Indian officials in exchange for favourable terms for solar power contracts.

The Adani Group has rejected the allegations as baseless.

Earlier in the day, the Lower House was adjourned till 12 noon after paying tribute to departed members, including two MPs who had won the parliamentary elections this year.

On Tuesday, Parliament will hold a special event in the Central Hall of Samvidhan Sadan to launch yearlong celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution by the Constituent Assembly.

Inputs from PTI.