Opposition parties, following a meeting at the chamber of Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, in the parliament building today, decided to raise the demand for discussion on the report by US-based short-seller Hindenburg Research on Adani Group companies, and a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe in both the houses, sources said.
They decided to not allow any other business in the parliament, sources further said. Discussion on Motion of Thanks to the President's Address is scheduled to be taken up in both houses today.
Parties that were present in Mr Kharge's chamber for the opposition meeting to chalk out a strategy on allegations of fraud against the Adani Group, which has tanked the stock market, included Congress, MK Stalin's DMK, Sharad Pawar-led NCP, K Chandrashekar Rao's Bharat Rashtra Samithi, Nitish Kumar's JD(U), Samajwadi Party, CPI(M), CPI, Kerala Congress (Jose Mani), JMM, RLD, RSP, AAP, IUML, RJD, and Shiv Sena.
The government, however, has insisted that the Opposition should allow the customary "Motion of Thanks" to the President. "Passage of the resolution thanking the President for her address to the joint sitting of the two Houses is a priority," Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Arjun Ram Meghwal had said.
On Friday, both parliament houses were adjourned without any work as opposition parties remained firm on a call for a discussion and an investigation into allegations of fraud against the Adani Group.
Leaders of the 16 opposition parties, who met today, had met at Mr Kharge's chambers on Friday as well, a day after both houses of parliament were adjourned early, without getting any work done, amid calls for a probe.
The parties are demanding a discussion on the risk to Indian investors from the plunge in shares of the Adani Group following fraud claims. They have also asked for an investigation by a parliamentary panel or a Supreme Court-appointed committee.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had denied their requests, asking members "not to make unsubstantiated claims" while Rajya Sabha chairperson, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, rejected all motions by the opposition, saying they were "not in order".
Gautam Adani's ports-to-energy business empire, which counts the state-run Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and the State Bank of India (SBI) among key investors, has lost more than $100 billion in value since the charges were made public.
The Adani Group's finance chief has called the Hindenburg report a "malicious combination of selective misinformation and stale, baseless and discredited allegations that have been tested and rejected by India's highest courts".
Disclaimer: New Delhi Television is a subsidiary of AMG Media Networks Limited, an Adani Group Company.
