Adani storm continues to rock winter session

Both the government and the Opposition dug their heels inside the House even as former attorney general Mukul Rohatgi and Rajya Sabha MP Mahesh Jethmalani forwarded legal arguments outside Parliament to argue that neither Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani nor his nephew Sagar were named in charges related to bribery or obstruction of justice under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

Also Read: Ex-attorney general Mukul Rohatgi ‘clears air’ on bribery charges against Adani

The Opposition, however, rejected the claims and demanded a joint parliamentary committee investigation into “the entire Modani scam” and alleged it had “global ramifications”.

The controversy arises amid a criminal indictment filed by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) and a civil complaint by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York against the Adani Group chairman and seven executives of his vast conglomerate.

The allegation is that the Solar Energy Corp of India entered into an agreement with the Adani Group to buy solar power at a certain price that it would then sell to the states, but that because it had agreed to buy the power at a high rate, no state was willing to sign a Power Sales Agreement (PSA) with it. Adani, the prosecutors allege, incentivised the states to sign the agreement.

The Adani Group has already dismissed the charges as baseless. But members of the INDIA bloc have repeatedly demanded an inquiry into the developments.

Soon after the Lok Sabha met on Wednesday, Opposition members, some of whom have tried to push adjournment motions, sought discussions on the Adani issues and the recent violence in Uttar Pradesh’s Sambhal district. Many MPs raised slogans and stormed the Well of the House even as Speaker Om Birla urged the members to allow Question Hour to run.

“Don’t you want to allow the House to run? Do you want to create a deadlock in the House? You want to create a deadlock in the House in a planned manner which is not appropriate,” he said before adjourning the House until noon. The protest continued after the proceedings resumed and the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day.

Similarly, the Rajya Sabha got briefly adjourned in the morning as Opposition members launched protests after Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar rejected 18 adjournment motions.

The notices related to the demand for the “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.

Four people died and over 20 police personnel and officials were injured in Sambhal on Sunday after protesters opposed a second survey at Shahi Jama Masjid following Hindu groups’ claims that the mosque was built over a temple during Mughal emperor Babur’s rule in 1529.

Only Congress members demanded a discussion under Rule 267 after the suspension of the House business, on setting up a JPC to probe allegations against the Adani group, while other opposition parties gave similar notices on different issues.

When the House reconvened after half an hour, Opposition MPs pressed for their demand to discuss the Adani issue and other subjects.

“You are only good when you use your pen. Your vocal chords are fine when you get a legitimate platform to speak, but with the permission of the Chair,” Dhankhar told Congress MP Jairam Ramesh amid protests from the Opposition. As members tried to raise a point of order, Dhankhar announced, “There can be no point of order when the House is in disorder.”

“As I have reiterated on several occasions, I thought it wise to bestow focused attention given the situation that we are entering the last quarter of the century of adoption of the Constitution of India. We had the great occasion to celebrate it yesterday. And therefore I emphasise that this House, the House of elders, the Upper House, the Council of States needs to reflect and follow well-established traditions that a ruling of the chair requires deference and not cause of differences,” Dhankhar said, before adjourning the House for the day.

The Opposition blamed the government.

“You think Adani is going to accept the charges? Obviously he is going to deny the charges. The point is that he has to be arrested as we have said. Hundreds of people are being arrested on tiny charges and the gentleman (Gautam Adani) has been indicted in the United States for thousands of crores, he should be in jail and the government is protecting him…” Lok Sabha leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi said.

Also Read | Rahul Gandhi says Adani should be jailed: ‘You think he’d accept charges?’

Trinamool Congress member Mahua Moitra also attacked Adani. “He is charged with bribing and making US participants part of bribe. He is charged with lying to US participants that he hadn’t bribed & he is charged with lying to US participants about existence of FBI investigations! Bribery is front & centre of the charges. @SEBI_India should be watching this closely,” she said.

Also Read | TMC wants Parliament to run, says leader; Adani not on agenda

“Today also both Houses of Parliament got adjourned because of the government’s stubborn unwillingness to agree to an immediate discussion on the latest revelations regarding the Adani Group. The Opposition continues to demand a JPC investigation into the entire Modani scam – which has global ramifications and has been born out of the cozy relationship between the PM and Mr. Gautam Adani,” Ramesh later posted on X.

On Thursday, the Congress’s parliamentary team will get bolstered as Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, who won a recent parliamentary by-election from Wayanad, will take oath and participate in the House.

On Monday , the first day of the Winter Session, Rajya Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day in the morning session itself as the Opposition insisted on raising issues related to the Adani Group. There was no sitting of the House on Tuesday.

The ruling side is expecting that the Opposition’s aggressive demand for a JPC and a discussion on the Adani issue might subside next week but a section of the Opposition is adamant to continue the protests. The winter session is scheduled till December 20.

Outside the House, two lawyers weighed in on the controversy.

Underlining that he was expressing his personal views, Rohatgi said that neither Gautam Adani nor his nephew Sagar Adani were named in charges related to bribery or obstruction of justice under the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA).

This is the first specific reaction of the Adani Group to the charges detailed in a criminal indictment and a civil complaint by US prosecutors and regulators, although Rohatgi, who acknowledged that he has appeared for the Adani Group in some cases, emphasised that he was expressing his personal views.

“Count 1 and Count 5 of the US indictment, which relate to conspiracy to violate the FCPA and obstruction of justice, respectively, do not name Gautam Adani or his nephew (Sagar Adani). Some other individuals, including a foreign party, have been named. Whether they are related to Adani or not, they will respond. But I wanted to clear the air that Adanis have not been named in the counts related to the violation of FCPA and obstruction of justice,” Rohatgi said.

Senior advocate and BJP MP Mahesh Jethmalani, also spoke to the media and said that given the nature of the indictment, the “sketchy” evidence and some very important circumstances, it seemed to be a “hatchet job”.

“It is obvious now that part of the Democratic deep state apparatus…There are two deep states in America – the Republican deep state and the Democratic deep state. The Democratic deep state has, for some reasons after 2023, turned extremely hostile towards the present government. Coming to the indictment itself, first of all no offence is alleged in the indictment against any of the Adanis or Adani Green,” he said.