Adani Issue Rocks Parliament, Both Houses Adjourned Amid Opposition Protests

New Delhi: Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha proceedings on Monday were adjourned for the day following protests by Opposition parties demanding a joint parliamentary committee (JPC) probe into the allegations of fraud and stock manipulation by a short-seller against the Adani Group.

The Rajya Sabha was adjourned without transacting any business as a united Opposition continued to press to raise in the House allegations of fraud against the Adani Group.

As soon as the Upper House reassembled for the afternoon session, having been adjourned till 2 p.m in the morning, the Opposition members asked for a discussion on the issue.

Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar, however, did not allow their request, asking them to led the listed business conclude. With the Opposition parties unrelenting, he adjourned the House for the day.

Earlier in the morning session, he did not accept 10 notices given by various leaders of Opposition parties to suspend the listed business of the day and take up the issues raised by them.

The Opposition parties protested against this. The Chairman tried to pacify the protesting members, but in vain. He then adjourned the proceedings till 2 pm.

In Lok Sabha, as soon as the House met after the weekend break, Opposition members, primarily Congress MPs, came to the Well shouting slogans such as "Adani sarkar shame-shame"  and demanding a probe into the tanking of the Adani Group shares and into the business practices of the corporate giant.

Speaker Om Birla urged them to go back to their seats and participate in the debate.

"This is not good. Sloganeering is against the dignity of the House. People have elected you to raise their issues in Parliament but you are not interested in participating in debate," he said.

Birla said the Opposition members should come to his chamber and discuss with him their demands and assured them that he would give the Opposition enough time to raise their issues in the House.

"This is Parliament. Maintain some dignity. This is a respected House. The House is for debate and discussions. The way you are disrupting the house is not good," he said.

However, the Opposition ignored his pleas and continued their protests and slogan-shouting, forcing the Speaker to adjourn the House till 2 p.m.

TMC members were also on their feet but protested from their respective seats.

After the House resumed after 2 p.m, the Opposition parties continued their protests.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi requested them to calm down and allow the tradition of discussing the President's address.

"I request you to let the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President's address be allowed to take place as it is part of Parliamentary convention. Whatever you want to say you can say during the debate and the government will reply," said Joshi.

He also said that the government's stand has been stated by the finance minister and is in public domain.

Adani Group stocks have taken a beating on the bourses after the US short-seller Hindenburg Research made a litany of allegations last fortnight in its report, including fraudulent transactions and share price manipulation at the Gautam Adani-led group, which has denied the charges.

The market losses of the Adani Group have risen to nearly $103 billion (about Rs 8.5 lakh crore).

The rout in Adani group stocks has threatened the value of investments made by the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and public sector banks.