Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha adjourned amid ruckus over Adani bribery charges

Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day on Wednesday amid opposition protests over the Adani controversy and violence in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal.

In Lok Sabha, opposition members trooped to the Well of the House raising slogans as soon as the House met again at 12 noon.

BJP member Dilip Saikia, who was in the chair, adjourned the proceedings for the day after parliamentary papers were laid on the table.

Earlier, Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had taken up the Question Hour when the House convened at 11 am. However, he adjourned the proceedings amid sloganeering by the opposition members.

The Opposition members wanted to discuss the Adani controversy and the recent violence in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal.

In Rajya Sabha, the proceedings were briefly adjourned in the morning session due to opposition protest, and when the House re-assembled at 11.30 AM, there were identical scenes.

This prompted Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar to adjourn the proceedings for the day, saying the “House is not in order”.

The trouble started after Dhankhar rejected 18 notices under a rule of the House to suspend scheduled business and take up issues mentioned in the notices.

The notices related to demand for 'constitution of a JPC to investigate the alleged misconduct, including corruption, bribery, financial irregularities of the Adani Group in connivance with other authorities', violence in Sambhal in Uttar Pradesh and rising incidents of crime in the national capital.

“Upper House needs to reflect and follow well-established traditions that ruling of the Chair requires reference and not cause differences. I have, in detail, given reasons why, in these situations, notices are not being accepted,” Dhankhar said while rejecting the notices under Rule 267 of the House.

On Monday also, the Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day during the morning session itself as opposition insisted on raising the issues related to Adani Group. There was no sitting of the House on Tuesday.

The Adani Group said on Wednesday 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 the New York court in an alleged bribery case.