New Delhi: Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day on Tuesday amid ruckus in the Lower House with the Opposition demanding a JPC probe into the Adani issue.
The Lower House will meet again on Thursday, March 23. As soon as the proceedings started, members of the opposition benches raised the issue and shouted slogans like “we want JPC”.
However, the Chair, Rajendra Agarwal, managed to pass the Budget for the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day on Tuesday, amid uproar over BJP’s demand for Rahul Gandhi’s apology for his ‘democracy in danger’ remark in London. The Upper House of Parliament will meet again on March 23.
Meanwhile, an all-party meeting called by Speaker Om Birla on Tuesday to break the logjam in Parliament remained inconclusive, with the ruling BJP and the Opposition failing to arrive at a consensus.
Sources said some opposition members, including from the Congress, raised the Adani issue and stuck to their guns, a stand opposed by the government.
Most opposition parties have been demanding a JPC probe into the matter.
Some opposition members, including Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, of the Congress said Rahul Gandhi should be allowed to speak in Parliament.
The BJP has demanded in Parliament that Gandhi should apologise for “insulting” India by his democracy remarks in Britain.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, on the other hand, has asserted that he has the right to respond in Parliament to the “totally baseless” and “unfair charges” hurled at him by senior ministers in the Lok Sabha over his democracy remarks.
In a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Gandhi invoked Rule 357 which allows for “personal explanations” and also cited the example of BJP MP and then minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who invoked the Rule to give an explanation regarding comments made by Jyotiraditya Scindia in relation to him in Parliament.
“I am making such a request again. I am seeking this permission under the conventions of Parliamentary practice, the constitutionally embedded rules of natural justice and Rule 357 of the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha,” he said in his letter to the Speaker.
Citing Rule 357, he said: “A member may, with the permission of the Speaker, make a personal explanation although there is no question before the House, but in this case no debatable matter may be brought forward, and no debate shall arise.”
Several opposition party leaders on Tuesday held a protest in the corridors of Parliament House and raised slogans demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani issue.
They also hung a banner that read “We want JPC” from the first floor of the Parliament building.
TMC MPs held a separate protest in the Parliament complex and demanded that Prime Minister Narendra Modi break his silence on the Adani issue.
“Adani should be arrested. Modi is trying to protect Adani in the Rs 1 lakh crore scam. This is also the reason why they are not allowing any discussion in Parliament. The TMC leadership has already demanded that the 10 non-BJP states should begin their own probe into this and ensure that public money is not misused,” said TMC Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien.
Leaders of opposition parties had earlier met in the Parliament complex and decided to press for a JPC probe into the Adani issue.
Leaders of opposition parties, including the Congress, DMK, RJD, CPI-M, CPI, NCP, Shiv Sena (UBT), JDU, JMM, IUML, AAP, MDMK, attended the meeting in the chamber of Kharge.