"Biggest corruption of the century": Opposition demands JPC probe in Adani row

The Opposition continued to corner the government over the Adani issue in both the Houses of Parliament today.
Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha witnessed uproar again with Opposition parties demanding that either Supreme Court-monitored panel or a joint parliamentary committee should probe the charges raised in the Hindenburg report against the Adani Group.

Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha were adjourned for the day without conducting any business. The Opposition parties have alleged the Adani row is the "biggest scam of the century" under the Modi government.


After the Houses were adjourned today, the Opposition MPs held a press conference hitting out at the government.

Congress Rajya Sabha MP Pramod Tiwari called the alleged scam the "biggest corruption of the century" executed "under the watch of the government".

"We gave the notice under Rule 267 against the biggest scam of the century. We are only demanding a JPC or a probe under the CJI. Where was the ED, the income tax department when millions of rupees were withdrawn? This is the biggest corruption of the century executed under the watch of the government," he said.

"We demand a probe into the matter. We have always been saying that the government's policies are only to benefit its friends," the Congress MP added.

Samajwadi Party MP Ram Gopal Yadav alleged that the government is not ready to listen to the Opposition claiming that it is not worried about the developments.

"The country's economy has collapsed. People are worried that they want to withdraw money from the banks but there is no money. The Opposition is demanding a probe into the matter. The government is not ready to listen. The public is worried but the government is not," he said.

Speaking to ANI, Shashi Tharoor said that the government does not want to discuss any issue that it "thinks will embarrass them".

"The Opposition parties want a discussion on this extremely important issue. They believe that it is a matter of sufficient importance that the government should permit it. The government does not want the issues to be discussed. They did not want China to be discussed in the last session. Any issue that the government thinks will embarrass them, they don't want to discuss it," he said.

The Congress MP asked why the government is "stalling" the Parliament when it wants to run the House smoothly and continue the proceedings.

"That is what Parliament is for, it is for discussing the issues facing the nation. Sadly, however, the government has not seen the merit of this. So they are stalling. As a result, we have lost 2 days. I hope that at some point they see the merit in coming to an accommodation with the Opposition. Why should the government which has an interest in doing all that (proceedings of the House) continue to stall the Parliament?" he said.

Earlier today, a number of Opposition leaders including Rajya Sabha Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, DMK Rajya Sabha MP Tiruchi Siva, Congress MP Pramod Tiwari, BRS MP K Keshava Rao, Shiv Sena MP (Uddhav Thackeray faction) Priyanka Chaturvedi, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Dr Syed Naseer Hussain, and CPI(M) MP Elamaram Kareem gave suspension of Business notice to their respective Houses to hold a discussion on the allegations levelled by Hindenburg against Adani Group.

(Inputs from ANI)