All-party Meet: Govt Seeks Smooth Winter Session

New Delhi: The opposition on Sunday asked the Centre to allow discussions in the Parliament on the US prosecutors' bribery charges against the Adani Group even as Union minister Kiren Rijiju made it clear that the matters to be taken up in the two Houses will be decided by their authorised committees with the consent of the respective Chair.

Following the customary all-party meeting on the eve of the Parliament's Winter Session commencing Monday, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rijiju told reporters that the government has appealed to all the parties to ensure smooth conduct of business in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha. Forty-two leaders from 30 parties attended the meeting which was chaired by senior BJP leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh.

On Congress' demand to hold discussions on the Adani issue on "priority" apart from a host of other matters, including the Manipur unrest, Rijiju said the business advisory committees of the two Houses will take a call on the subjects of parliamentary business with the consent of the Lok Sabha speaker and the Rajya Sabha chairman.

Raising the matter at the meeting, Congress' Deputy Leader in the Lok Sabha, Gaurav Gogoi, dubbed the Adani issue as a scam, saying the government should not reject or ignore their demand on any "technicality" as it concerns Indian institutions and investors. Billionaire industrialist Gautam Adani, whose conglomerate includes a host of companies covering power to ports sectors, has been charged by US prosecutors for allegedly being part of a scheme to pay $265 million (about Rs 2,200 crore) bribe to Indian officials in exchange of favourable terms for solar power contracts in four Indian states. The Adani Group has denied the charge, saying the allegations levelled by the US prosecutors are baseless and that the conglomerate is compliant with all laws.