New Delhi: Several opposition parties alleged Monday that the government does not want Parliament to function. They said the government is finding ways to divert attention from their demand for a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe (JPC) into the Adani issue.
Leaders of these parties, including the Congress, DMK, RJD, CPI-M, CPI, NCP, JDU, AAP, and Shiv Sena, met in the chamber of Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge in Parliament House complex Monday morning. They coordinated their strategy on their demand for the JPC.
Addressing the media after the first adjournment of both Houses, the opposition leaders blamed the government for the impasse.
“We have pledged that till the time JPC is not constituted, we will not budge and continue with our struggle. This is not for leaders, but for the people,” Congress deputy leader in Rajya Sabha, Pramod Tiwari said.
Tiwari asserted that nothing happens in the BJP without the directions of the prime minister. “Despite several attempts our demand for a JPC is not being accepted. Why is the government shying away from JPC… The BJP is running away from JPC and is finding ways to divert attention and is not allowing Parliament to function,” alleged Tiwari. “You may carry on with ‘Police Raj’. This seems just a trailer of dictatorship and the real dictatorship is yet to come,” he charged.
AICC general secretary Jairam Ramesh tweeted, “Even before Opposition members could sit down, BJP MPs started sloganeering and Rajya Sabha got adjourned almost instantly around 2.00pm itself till tomorrow (Tuesday) 11.00am. It is clear that the Modi Government does not want Parliament to function.”
The Modi government’s ‘adamant refusal to allow the Opposition to raise its perfectly legitimate demand’ for a JPC into the PM-linked Adani ‘Maha Mega Scam’ has resulted in the adjournment of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha this morning till 2.00pm, Ramesh earlier said in another tweet.
Tiwari also slammed the manner in which police ‘illegally’ gathered Sunday at the residence of Rahul Gandhi. Several opposition leaders have been harassed through misuse of ED and other agencies, he alleged.
“We are only demanding a JPC probe into the biggest scam, into the Adani issue and how rules were flouted to hand over all the assets of the country to him. This is not the first time that a JPC will be constituted, as this a very ‘big scam’ probably in independent India,” Tiwari pointed out.
Elamaram Kareem of the CPI(M) said the prime minister and home minister are ‘afraid’ of holding a discussion in Parliament and are not agreeing to their demand.
“They (the BJP) are responsible for the adjournments. We will continue our demand for a JPC probe into the Adani issue. We will not back down from our demand. The government is trying to divert attention and we will not allow the government to hide,” asserted Kareem.
Priyanka Chaturvedi of the Shiv Sena (UBT) said for the first time ruling party MPs ‘were trying to create hurdles in Parliament’, while the opposition wanted a discussion and a JPC on the Adani issue.
