The opposition parties targeted the Narendra Modi government at the Centre over the US indictment of businessman Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar and six others in an alleged bribery case on Monday, the day Parliament reconvened for its Winter session.
The government does not want a public debate on the Adani issue, Opposition leaders said as both Houses of Parliament were adjourned amid demand for the suspension of business to take up the matter for discussion.
The Chair in both Houses of Parliament refused permission for the debate and adjourned proceedings for the day.
"The Modani issue rocked both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha today,” said Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh, using the portmanteau word his party has coined for the alleged proximity between Prime Minister Modi and Adani.
“INDIA parties called for a Joint Parliamentary Committee investigation into the Modani scam -- the case for which has been reinforced by the recent indictments of Adani's bribery and suppression of information from Indian and American regulators," he added.
Pramod Tiwari, Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, said at the all-party Opposition meeting on Sunday, “the whole of the Opposition proposed to take up a discussion on the bribe allegations against the Adani group. The charge is on Adani, but the BJP is feeling the pain.
"Most parties had given notices to discuss the issue, the Leader of the Opposition objected that such an important issue was not being taken up. As a result, the House was adjourned till Wednesday," the Congress MP said.
"I do not understand, instead of adjourning the House, they could have discussed it. It shows that the government does not want to allow any public debate on the Adani issue. We are not raising this issue, the issue has been raised by the [US] Department of Justice. It shows there is something wrong," he told PTI.
Another Rajya Sabha MP of the Congress, Ranjeet Ranjan, said it is the government's responsibility to ensure the functioning of the House.
"A warrant has been issued on the Adani group, is it wrong to demand a JPC [Joint Parliamentary Committee] on the issue? We are not making any allegation, but is it wrong to take up a debate on the issue," Ranjan asked.
"There are several important issues like pollution which cannot be discussed as the House has been adjourned for the whole day," she told PTI.
Congress Lok Sabha MP K.C. Venugopal said the government was “very much scared” of discussing the Adani issue.
“They are not even ready to hear one word from the Opposition on the issue. Within a second, they adjourned the House. They are scared of this issue being raised,” ," Venugopal said
Congress MP Shahi Tharoor said both sides need to cooperate to ensure that the House functions.
"All opposition parties wanted to debate the issue, but the government was not ready. It should be discussed in the Business Advisory Committee. The point is everyone should be taken along to make Parliament function, all important issues should be discussed," the Lok Sabha member from Thiruvananthapuram said.
"As an MP, I want to come here and debate, but it needs cooperation from both sides," he added.
Sanjay Singh, Rajya Sabha member from AAP, said there are serious allegations against Adani that need to be discussed.
"The Modi government is not allowing Parliament to function. We want Adani's corruption to be discussed. It is causing ignominy for India in the US, Australia, all over the world," he said.
"Adani gave bribes to officials under the Modi government and sold expensive electricity to the people of India, we want to discuss that. The Supreme Court has said there should be competitive bidding. Government is running away from discussion," Singh alleged.
Dola Sen of the Trinamul said it felt like the Treasury benches did not want to run the House as the proceedings were adjourned even though there was no ruckus.
"...No one staged any protest, but there were two adjournments, and the second time, it was adjourned for the day. It was the policy of the Treasury bench, they are blaming us unnecessarily," she claimed.
Adani has been charged by US prosecutors for allegedly being part of a scheme to pay over $250 million (around Rs 22,000 crore) in bribes to Indian officials in exchange for favourable terms for solar power contracts.
The Adani Group has rejected the allegations as baseless.
The Opposition onslaught on the government over the issue was not limited to Parliament.
The Indian Youth Congress on Monday staged a protest at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, demanding the arrest of Gautam Adani.
The protest was led by Indian Youth Congress President Uday Bhanu Chib in which several protesters, including those coming from other states, raised slogans against Adani holding placards.
There is also a growing spotlight on Sagar Adani, a millennial scion of the company who allegedly kept track of hundreds of millions of dollars of alleged bribes to Indian officials, in notes the prosecutors described as "bribe notes".
The alleged bribes caught the attention of U.S. authorities when Adani's companies were raising funds from US-based investors in transactions starting in 2021.
The indictment appears to now have ramifications across the globe, including news that some bankers are considering pausing fresh lending to the group.
Kenya has ordered the cancellation of Adani infrastructure deals worth over $2.5 billion and a US development agency is 'assessing ramifications' on a Sri Lanka Adani port project it had agreed to finance.
In Bangladesh, a government panel has sought legal help for its investigation of power deals including one with Adani.
What next for Adani?
A key question is what is next for Gautam Adani? He is charged with foreign bribery, securities fraud, securities fraud conspiracy and wire fraud conspiracy.
He has not been arrested and his whereabouts are unknown, though he is believed to be in India.
A trial could still be a long way off, even if Adani is extradited or surrenders in the US.
If convicted, Adani could face decades in prison as well as monetary penalties, though any sentence would ultimately be up to the judge overseeing the case.
For now, Adani has to answer US markets regulator SEC’s allegations within 21 days, a court directive states.
(With inputs from PTI and Reuters)