BJP parliamentarians accused public accounts committee chairperson K.C. Venugopal of unilateral and politically motivated functioning after the Congress MP decided to set a fresh date for hearing Sebi chief Madhabi Puri-Buch, who failed to appear before the House panel on Thursday.

The BJP has been against the original summons to Puri-Buch itself, fearing she would be questioned on an alleged conflict of interest in the market regulator’s investigation into charges of financial irregularities against the Adani group, perceived as close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Leader of the Opposition and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi hit back, asking why the Sebi chief had skipped the meeting and who was trying to “protect” her.

The NDA members on the House panel assailed Venugopal before reporters and then rushed to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to complain against him.

“This is a very big issue. His (Venugopal’s) words were ‘suo motu’ decided…. His entire conduct (of adjourning the PAC meeting) and not allowing us to speak is unparliamentary… and shows he has extraneous political considerations,” BJP member Ravi Shankar Prasad, accompanied by other ruling alliance members on the panel, told reporters.

“The PAC’s work is to deliberate over the CAG report. We have information from trusted sources that there is no paragraph over Sebi in the CAG report,” he added, questioning Venugopal’s insistence on summoning Buch.

Sources said there was a fracas between the NDA and Opposition MPs when Venugopal adjourned the meeting, making it incumbent on Puri-Buch to appear another day.

Prasad, a former law minister, told reporters that many other parliamentary panels existed to review the performance of regulatory bodies. He cited the examples of the committee on finance that scrutinises the work of the Sebi and the Reserve Bank of India.

“How did he (Venugopal) make suo motu selection of subjects without consulting other members? Nobody had an inkling of the list that was prepared,” Prasad said.

Nishikant Dubey, a BJP member of the PAC, had last month written to Birla accusing Venugopal of trying to defame the central government and destabilise the country’s economy by raking up “non-existent” issues.

He wrote that the panel chairperson’s conduct was guided by political motivations, arguing that the allegations levelled by a foreign firm like Hindenburg (against Puri-Buch and the Adani group) were “unverified” and part of an international conspiracy to defame India.

Parliamentary panels have in recent years witnessed sharp political clashes between ruling and Opposition members. The joint parliamentary committee examining the contentious waqf amendment bill recently saw uproarious scenes.

Rahul posted two questions on X: “1. Why is Madhabi Buch reluctant to answer questions before the Public Accounts Committee(PAC) of Parliament?

“2. Who is behind the plan to protect her from being answerable to the PAC?”