Adani row: Cong to stage nationwide protest near LIC, SBI branches on Feb 6

Congress general secretary KC Venugopal on Thursday said that the party will hold nationwide protests in front of Life Insurance Corporation Offices and State Bank of India branches in all districts on February 6.

Speaking to ANI, Venugopal said, "Government at the Centre is using common people's money to support their closest friends. Congress party has decided to have nationwide agitation across districts of the country in front of LIC and SBI offices on Monday."

The Opposition is taking this line of argument, that the exposure of LIC and public sector banks like the SBI to the Adani Group has significant implications for middle-class savings.

 

Opposition leaders said that they expect the government to brazen it out and not concede their demand, but they will dig their heels in and try to use the Parliament stage to corner Modi.

Opposition parties today during the session in Parliament, sought a debate and a probe by a joint committee into the fraud-allegation-triggered rout in Adani group company stocks, forcing adjournment of proceedings in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in the pre-lunch session.

Lashing out at the Centre over the Hindenburg report against Adani Enterprises, the joint Opposition dubbed the stock crash a "Maha ghotala (scam) in Amrit Kaal" and questioned the government's "silence" over the issue.

Addressing a joint press conference at Vijay Chowk in the national capital after the adjournment of both Houses till 2 pm, the Opposition leaders also slammed the government over the rejection of their suspension of Business notices to discuss the issue.

Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge led the attack at the Centre and demanded an investigation into the matter under the supervision of CJI or the constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee.

"Either a Joint Parliamentary Committee or a team under the supervision of the CJI of the Supreme Court should investigate this," Kharge said.

Several Opposition MPs have given a suspension of business notices to the respective Houses of Parliament on the issue.

However, both Houses were adjourned soon after the Session began at 2 pm.

The leaders who gave the notice in their respective Houses include Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge, CPI(M) leader in Rajya Sabha MP Elamaram Kareem, Shiv Sena MP (Uddhav Thackeray faction) Priyanka Chaturvedi, CPI Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Viswam, Bharat Rashtra Samithi Lok Sabha MP Nama Nageswara Rao, BRS Rajya Sabha MP K Keshava Rao, Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh among others.

The first part of the session will conclude on February 13. Parliament will reconvene on March 12 for the second part of the Budget Session, which will conclude on April 6.