Budget Session: Adanigate gridlocks Parliament
By Manish Anand
New Delhi, February 2: The unfolding saga over short-selling of the Adani Group of stocks appears to have armed Opposition with lethal ammunition to fire on the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic government.
The Opposition unity seems in place in Parliament. The government is still searching to combat Opposition charge. Both the Houses of Parliament quickly decided to not run the business, as the flor managers of the ruling alliance remained clueless in countering the Opposition onslaught.
The first day of the debate over the President’s address to the joint session of Parliament was washed out on Thursday. Morning began with the Opposition leaders flocking to Mallikarjuna Kharge to decide on a common strategy. They decided that there should be a probe by the joint parliamentary committee (JPC) in the unfolding saga of the decimation of the share prices of the Adani Group of Companies, which have lost two-third of their valuations amid the rout so far.
Congress charged with the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ underlined that the Opposition meeting was also attended by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Congress had not invited the TMC and the AAP for the concluding ceremony of the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ along with a few more parties. Ram Gopal Yadav of the Samajwadi Party (SP), which makes efforts to stay away from Congress, also stood beside Kharge in front of the statue of Mahatma Gandhi in the Parliament premises.
“Both Houses of Parliament adjourned today till 2pm because Govt did not agree to combined Opposition demand for an investigation into forced investments by LIC, SBI & other public institutions that have lost huge value in recent days endangering savings of crores of Indians,” Jairam Ramesh tweeted in the day. Both the Houses of Parliament were adjourned for the day within minutes after reassembling at 2 PM.
While the charges against the Adani Group is of artificially inflating share prices by routing investment through shell companies by the Hindenburg Report by the short-selling firm from the US, the Opposition for the last few years had been accusing the Modi government of crony capitalism and also of benefiting the beleaguered business conglomerate, which saw meteoric rise in a short span of time.
“The Adani issue does certainly warrant an investigation by SEBI & RBI. Whether that will be truly independent is a separate matter given the special relationship Mr. A shares with the ruling regime – which could be dubbed as a Narendradani one,” tweeted Ramesh, stressing the allegations against the business conglomerate and its relations with the ruling dispensation. It appears that the first half of the Budget session may be washed out, as the government will not be agreeing to cede space to the Opposition to hold discussions on the Adani issue.
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