After SEBI Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch skipped appearing before the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament on Thursday, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi wondered why is she reluctant to face questions from the panel.

In a post on X, Gandhi also asked who is behind the "plan" to protect her from being answerable to the panel.

"Why is Madhabi Buch reluctant to answer questions before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament? "Who is behind the plan to protect her from being answerable to the PAC?" the Congress leader asked.

Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge accused the BJP-led Centre of using the SEBI chairperson as a "shield to hide its misdeeds" and said Buch would have to be answerable before the PAC, which is a constitutional body. He also justified her summoning by the panel, saying it has the right to do so.

"The PAC of Parliament has the constitutional right to summon any officer in connection with any government investigation.

"To safeguard the autonomy of the SEBI, to maintain the impartiality of the institution and to ensure accountability to Parliament, the SEBI chairperson will have to be answerable before the PAC," Kharge said in a post in Hindi on X.

"The Modi government cannot hide its misdeeds by using the SEBI chairperson as a shield," the Congress chief added.

"After all, it is a question of investments of crores of small and medium scale people," he said.

Buch skipped the PAC meeting on Thursday, prompting panel head K C Venugopal to postpone the sitting, with ruling NDA members accusing him of taking unilateral decisions and lodging a protest with the Lok Sabha speaker.

The committee's proceedings remained deadlocked even during its second sitting, where the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairperson appeared briefly, amid the NDA members' persistent demand that Venugopal allow a vote on agenda items like summoning the heads of regulatory bodies, an idea opposed by the MPs from the Congress and its allies.

Venugopal, a senior Congress leader, insisted that there cannot be any voting on the subjects already approved by the committee, keeping open the possibility of calling Buch again, sources said.

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