Both houses of Parliament were adjourned for the day on Thursday amid noisy scenes and ruckus with slogan-shouting Opposition members demanding a joint parliamentary committee probe into the fraud allegation against Adani group.

The stock prices of the Adani group witnessed another day of carnage on Thursday following charges made by a US-based research company against it. The rout in Adani group stocks has threatened the value of investments made by the Life Insurance Corporation and public sector banks.

The Congress, the Shiv Sena, the Left, the Aam Aadmi Party, and other Opposition parties tried to raise in both Houses of Parliament the issue of allegations levelled by the Hindenburg Research firm against the Adani group.

 In the Lok Sabha, Speaker Om Birla adjourned the proceedings till 2 pm as members of almost all Opposition parties rushed to the Well of the House raising slogans on the tanking of Adani group scrips and sought a probe into the business practices of the corporate giant.

 Birla asked members not to make unsubstantiated claims and said Question Hour was an important part of Parliamentary proceedings which should not be disrupted.

As the House resumed, Opposition MPs stormed the Well of the Lok Sabha raising slogans against the Narendra Modi Government and the Adani group.

Amid the sloganeering, Rajendra Agarwal, who was in the Chair, allowed the laying of parliamentary papers in the House.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi appealed to the Opposition members to allow discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address to a joint sitting of both Houses.

“I plead with folded hands, please follow Parliamentary traditions and take up the debate on the Motion of Thanks,” Joshi said.

In the Lok Sabha, MPs from almost all Opposition parties rushed to the Well of the House raising slogans and sought a probe into the business practices of the corporate giant.

As the protests and sloganeering continued, the presiding officer adjourned the proceedings of the House for the day.

Adani group stocks, where LIC is heavily invested, have lost over $100 billion in value since a tiny New York short seller came out with a damning report alleging financial and accounting fraud by the ports-to-energy conglomerate. The Adani group has denied all charges and called the report malicious and full of lies.           

In the Rajya Sabha, 9 MPs, including Leader of the Opposition and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi, and Aam Aadmi Party’s Sanjay Singh, gave notices  under rule 267.

They sought the suspension of regular business to discuss the Adani group stock route and its impact on millions of small investors as well as the hard-earned savings of crores of Indians being endangered in loss of value of investments of LIC.

Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar rejected all the notices, saying they were not in order. This infuriated the Opposition MPs who rose in their places to protest.

Dhankhar called for order in the House but the MPs continued to raise their demands, which also included the Constitution of a JPC to probe the entire fiasco.

Others who gave notices include CPI’s Binoy Viswam and P Santhosh Kumar, BRS MP K Keshava Rao, CPM’s Elamaram Kareem and V Sivadasan, and DMK’s Tiruchi Siva.

 Dhankhar said he had on December 8, 2022, and thereafter indicated the requirements for accepting a 267 notice.

 “I have carefully gone through all the notices received. I find they are not in order as none of the notices fulfills the requirement that is expressly mandated in rule 267. In such a helpless situation, I am unable to accede to the same. They are declined.”

With the MPs not relenting, he adjourned the proceedings till 2 pm. Soon after the afternoon session resumed, Opposition members continued their demand and Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar announced adjournment of the proceedings of the Upper House for the day..

Outside the House, Kharge said the Opposition parties want day-to-day reporting of the Joint Parliament Committee (JPC) or the SC-monitored probe into the issue which concerns public money.

“Keeping public interest in mind, we want a thorough probe into the Adani issue either by a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) or a Supreme Court-monitored panel. There should also be day-to-day reporting of the investigation on the issue,” he told reporters.

Earlier in the day, leaders of several Opposition parties met to evolve a joint strategy to take on the government during the Budget Session. At that meeting, they decided to press for a JPC on the issue as well as a discussion in both houses.

Leaders of like-minded parties met in the chamber of Kharge. Leaders of Congress, DMK, TMC, SP, JD(U), Shiv Sena, CPI(M), CPI, NCP, IUML, NC, AAP, and the Kerala Congress were present at the meeting.