Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha Adjourned Till 12 Noon Amid Protests By Oppn

Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned till 12 noon on Monday amid protests by opposition members over the Adani indictment row, recent violence in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal and other issues.

As soon as the House met after the weekend break, many opposition members, including those from the Congress, were on their feet, raising the indictment of industrialist Gautam Adani in a US court on bribery charges, among other issues.

Some members were in the Well of the House while other opposition members stood in the aisle and raised slogans.

Speaker Om Birla asked the opposition members to allow the Question Hour and said they could take up their issues later. Amid the din, one question was taken up.

However, the opposition members ignored the speaker's pleas, following which he adjourned the House till 12 noon.

The Lok Sabha proceedings were washed out last week as well due to the protests by the opposition members on the same issues.

Before the House assembled, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju was seen speaking to Congress leader K C Venugopal near the opposition benches. Congress member Gaurav Gogoi and DMK leader T R Baalu were also present.

After the House was adjourned, some of the opposition leaders including Congress' Venugopal, DMK's Baalu, TMC's Kalyan Banerjee and Samajwadi Party members Dharmendra Yadav and Zia ur Rehman Barq were seen going to the speaker's office together.

The Adani Group has maintained that Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar have not been charged with any violation of the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in the indictment that authorities filed in a New York court in an alleged bribery case.

Meanwhile,
Rajya Sabha proceedings on Monday were adjourned till 12 noon without transacting any business as opposition parties tried to raise the allegations of bribery against the Adani group, violence in UP's Sambhal district and other issues.

Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar disallowed 20 notices served under rule 267, including eight that had sought a discussion on the US indictment on the alleged payment of USD 265 million in bribes by the Adani group to secure solar power supply contracts.

Stating that the notices do not call for admittance, Dhankhar went on to equate the situation in Parliament, which has seen repeated adjournments since it met for the Winter Session on December 25, to Murphy's Law that states,“Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.”

“It appears that there exists a deliberate algorithm to actualise Murphy's laws in this august House, consequently impeding the proper functioning of Parliament. We find ourselves achieving precisely the antithesis of what our Constitution ordains,” he said.

Dhankhar asked the opposition MPs to allow the House to take up the listed agenda for the day.

But the opposition MPs rose to their feet, seeking to raise the issues for which they had given notices under rule 267 seeking to set aside the proceedings to discuss them.

The chairman appealed to them in the name of the framers of the Constitution to allow the functioning of Parliament.“Don't make it dysfunctional,” he said.

As the opposition parties continued to raise the issues, he adjourned the proceedings till 12 noon.

While Congress MPs sought to raise the charges against the Adani group, four notices were served by Samajwadi Party (SP) members to raise law and order issues in Sambhal.

The other notices under rule 267, which calls for suspending the listed business of the House to take up discussion on the issue being sought to be raised, pertained to the continued violence in Manipur, increase in crimes in Delhi, atrocities against Hindus in Bangladesh and special assistance to the flood-hit Wayanad district of Kerala.

The Adani group has denied all charges in the US indictment, calling them baseless.

Follow this link to join our WhatsApp group : Join Now

CLICK FOR DETAILS

MENAFN02122024000215011059ID1108944896