Cong, some oppn MPs stage walkout from RS

The Congress and some other opposition MPs in Rajya Sabha staged a walkout on Friday after Leader of Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge was not allowed to speak in the House.
Kharge wanted to raise the issue of some of his observations being expunged by the chair, but he was not allowed on the plea that he cannot read the same remarks which have already been expunged.
Opposition members protested in support of the Leader of Opposition who wanted to raise his point, but the chair did not accede to their demand.
Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar said he had allowed the Leader of Opposition earlier but he cannot be allowed to raise the same points which have already been expunged.
Kharge then said that Congress members and some opposition MPs, including those from the RJD, were staging a walkout in protest.
Earlier, Leader of the House Piyush Goyal said Kharge should first apologise on behalf of the entire opposition, which created uproar during the prime minister’s speech in reply to the motion of thanks on the President’s address in Rajya Sabha on Thursday.
Govt exerting undue pressure on presiding officers: Kharge
Congress President and Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, on Friday alleged that the Centre is conspiring to hide the truth by exerting undue pressure on the presiding officers.
“The (Narendra) Modi government is conspiring to hide the truth by exerting undue pressure on the presiding officers of both the Houses of the Parliament, and is conspiring to suppress the JPC inquiry,” Kharge said.
His remarks came after parts of the speech of Rahul Gandhi and Kharge made in the House were expunged by the presiding officers.
He said questions will be asked both inside the Parliament as well as in the ‘people’s parliament’.
“Should there not be an inquiry into the Adani scam? Shouldn’t the falling value of LIC’s money, invested in Adani’s companies, be questioned? Shouldn’t questions be asked about the Rs 82,000 crore loan given to Adani by SBI and other banks,” he asked.
Kharge said the questions will be asked as to why Rs 525 crore of LIC and SBI were invested in Adani FPO despite more than 32 per cent fall in Adani’s shares. Why the value of LIC and SBI shares fell by more than Rs 1 lakh crore in the stock market, he asked.
“It must be asked to whom the thousands of crores of rupees pouring in from tax havens into Adani’s companies belong? Is it a fact that France’s ‘Total Gas’ has stopped the $50 billion investment in Adani’s company pending completion of the investigation against him,” Kharge asked.
Kharge said that the world’s largest equity investor, Norway Sovereign Fund, sold all Adani shares worth $200 million.
“Has MSCI downgraded the ranking of Adani’s companies? Have Standard Chartered, City Group, Credit Suisse stopped lending against Adani’s dollar bonds? Has Dow Jones removed Adani’s company from ‘sustainability Indices’,” he asked.
The Congress President also said that what is the reason that RBI, SEBI, ED, SFIO, Corporate Affairs Ministry, Income Tax, CBI — all have suffered paralysis, and have closed their eyes in the name of investigation against Adani?