Opposition attempts protest march to ED office over Adani issue, turned away by police; TMC, NCP leaders missing: Key points | India News

NEW DELHI: The second phase of the budget session on Wednesday once again witnessed raucous scenes with BJP MPs insisting that Congress MP Rahul Gandhi apologise for his democracy remarks in London, and opposition MPs taking out a protest march from Parliament to hand over a complaint to the Enforcement Directorate on the Adani issue.
Both Houses had to adjourn for the day shortly after reconvening at 2pm due to the disruptions. This is the third consecutive day that Parliament ended business early.

Here are the key points of the march by opposition MPs:
Oppn leaders stopped by police
Leaders of several opposition parties were on Wednesday stopped by the police at Vijay Chowk in Delhi as they took out a protest march from Parliament House to hand over a complaint to the Enforcement Directorate on the Adani issue alleging ‘corporate fraud, political corruption and stock-price manipulation’.
As the opposition leaders were stopped from proceeding to the agency’s office, they returned to Parliament complex.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge alleged that the police was not allowing the opposition MPs of around 18 parties to march in protest and present its case for a detailed investigation into the Adani issue. “All of us are going to meet the ED Director to submit a memorandum into Adani’s scam … but they have stopped us. There is a scam of crores of rupees… LIC, SBI and other banks are destroyed,” he told reporters.
The protest march began at 12:30 pm from Parliament House and MPs from several opposition parties took part. The TMC and NCP, however, were not part of the opposition protest march.
The police said the opposition MPs were not allowed to march forward as Section 144 CrPC was imposed in the area.

Leaders return to Parliament, demand JPC
The opposition has been demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani-Hindenburg issue and has been stalling proceedings of Parliament over their demand.
US short seller Hindenburg Research had alleged that the Adani group was “engaged in a brazen stock manipulation and accounting fraud”, and used offshore shell companies to inflate stock prices. The group had denied the allegations, calling them “malicious”, “baseless” and a “calculated attack on India”.
“Opposition MPs of nearly 18 parties want to give a memorandum to the Enforcement Directorate on the Adani issue, but the government is not allowing us to march forward and the police have stopped us at Vijay Chowk,” Kharge told reporters.
“We want to present our case to ED for a detailed investigation on the Adani issue and we will keep trying to march forward,” the Congress chief said.
Congress deputy leader in Rajya Sabha Pramod Tiwari said, “We are 200 MPs of opposition parties and were seeking to march to ED office to present a memorandum for a probe into the Adani issue, but we were stopped forcibly by the police.”
“We are going back to Parliament and would stage a protest inside Parliament House,” he said, as several MPs returned to Parliament after the police did not allow them to march forward.
Letter to ED
In the letter to the ED, the opposition cited accusations against the Adani Group that say it “established a network of offshore shell companies and offshore funds linked to the group … for the purposes of artificially inflating stock valuations and to give a distorted picture with regard to the group companies’ financial health”.

The leaders further claimed that there was a “clear causal link” between the offshore entities and the Adani Group’s Indian firms.
The letter also claims that the Adani Group “repeatedly exercised improper influence to obtain concessions and contracts from governments and regulated entities”.
‘Will meet ED officials’
After they were forced to turn away from their march, the opposition politicians walked back to Parliament but vowed that they would meet ED officials ‘one by one’ to call for an inquiry.
“We will go back to Parliament and we will raise this issue again and again. Out delegation of 17-18 parties will meet ED officials soon,” Congress leader Syed Naseer Hussain told reporters, adding, “We will go one by one and lodge our complaints.”
TMC stages separate protest
TMC leader Sudip Bandopadhyay said the party would not participate in any of the other protests and that it would protest on its own issues and agenda in the Parliament. “In our state (Bengal), the Congress is totally in connivance with BJP and CPM so we cannot join hands with meetings called by Congress leaders,” he said.
“It is most unfortunate that the Parliament is not succeeding to commence its session. Whether the ruling party or the main opp party, both are at loggerheads with each other” he added.
The Trinamool Congress earlier separately staged a protest in front of the Gandhi statue in Parliament complex over the LPG price hike and demanded answers from the government.

Oppn strategy to corner Centre on Adani issue
Earlier today, several leaders had met in the office of the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge in the Parliament House complex to chalk out their strategies to corner the government on the issue.
Speaking to media at the Parliament complex, Leader of Congress in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said that the BJP-led Union government doesn’t want a JPC probe into the matter as it will expose their “real face.”
“We demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) for investigation of Adani issue. However, the BJP doesn’t want a JPC as it will bring out the corruption & expose their real face. They wanted a JPC till they were in opposition, now they are scared,” he added.
(With inputs from agencies)

Watch Opposition MPs begin march from Parliament to ED office to submit memo over Adani issue