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'We want JPC…': Oppn MPs launch protest from Parliament amid Adani row | VIDEO
Parliament Budget session news: The govt-opposition impasse over the Adani-Hindenburg row means more adjournments.
Opposition lawmakers gathered Tuesday on the first floor of the Parliament building to continue protests against the government over the Adani-Hindenburg controversy and to demand a JPC, or joint parliamentary committee, probe allegations of stock manipulation and financial fraud against Gautam Adani's conglomerate. Visuals from Parliament showed dozens of opposition leaders waving placards and shouting 'we want JPC'.
Significantly, this protest took place outside the Parliament branch of the State Bank of India, which is one of two public financial bodies the opposition had claimed was overexposed to Adani stocks as it crashed - wiping over $120 billion off the Group's value - after the Hindenburg report went public.
The opposition has been relentless in its attack on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on this subject, including alleging prime minister Narendra Modi's party had favoured the Adani Group more than once in the award of contracts.
Last week over a dozen parties, including the Congress, wrote to the Enforcement Directorate urging it to take notice of Hindenburg's claims.
The opposition MPs' letter cited claims the Adani Group has established a network of offshore shell companies and offshore funds 'for purposes of (1) artificially inflating stock valuations and (2) to give a distorted picture with regard to the group companies' financial health'. It also claimed 'improper influence to obtain concessions and contracts from (the) government'.
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Parliament has been deadlocked since the Budget session began late January and has shown no signs of resuming since it re-started last week. Sittings have been repeatedly adjourned amid squabbles between BJP and opposition MPs over the Adani row and remarks by Congress's Rahul Gandhi's (on democracy).
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And, as has been the case so far, it began Tuesday morning with ruckus in both Houses leading to an adjournment. This time, the leaders of both - Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar have called for all-party meetings to attempt to resolve the impasse.
