Winter Session of Parliament: Congress demands discussion on Adani and Manipur in Parliament

Congress leader Pramod Tiwari told reporters that his party urged the government to allow a discussion in Parliament on the allegations of bribery against the Adani Group. He said that his party wants this issue to be raised first in the Parliament meeting on Monday.

The Rajya Sabha member said it is a serious issue involving the country's economic and security interests as the company allegedly paid over Rs 2,300 crore to politicians and bureaucrats to get favourable deals for its solar power projects.

US prosecutors have accused billionaire Gautam Adani of being part of a scheme to pay bribes worth USD 265 million (about Rs 2,200 crore) to Indian officials to secure favourable solar power contracts.

Tiwari said the Congress also wants to discuss issues such as severe air pollution in north India, the "out of control" situation in Manipur and rail accidents. The meeting was called by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju.

The meeting was attended by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president J P Nadda, Congress leaders Jairam Ramesh and Gaurav Gogoi, besides T Shiva, Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Anupriya Patel. The winter session will begin on Monday and continue till December 20. 16 bills, including the Waqf Amendment Bill, have been listed for this session.

Several opposition leaders have said that they will raise the issue of allegations against Adani in Parliament and Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi has demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the allegations.

The pending bills also include the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, which has been listed for consideration and passage after the joint committee of both the Houses submits its report to the Lok Sabha. The committee has been asked to submit its report on the last day of the first week of the winter session.

Opposition members of the committee are demanding an extension of the deadline for submitting the committee's report. He has alleged that the committee chairman and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Jagdambika Pal is disrupting the committee meetings and has sought Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla's intervention.

Presentation, discussion and voting on the 'First Batch of Supplementary Demands for Grants' for the year 2024-25 has also been listed. The other bill listed by the government is the Punjab Courts (Amendment) Bill. Besides, the Coastal Shipping Bill and the Indian Ports Bill have also been listed for introduction and passing.

Eight Bills, including the Wakf (Amendment) Bill and the Muslim Wakf (Abolition) Bill, are pending in the Lok Sabha and two other Bills are pending in the Rajya Sabha.