Budget Session: PM Narendra Modi to reply on Motion of Thanks in Lok Sabha today

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s address comes a day after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi spoke on the Motion of Thanks to President Murmu amid the Hindenburg-Adani row figured prominently in the debate with the opposition MPs pressing their demand for a probe by a Joint Parliamentary Committee.

On Tuesday, Rahul Gandhi Tuesday led the opposition attack in Lok Sabha over the Hindenburg report, claiming that the meteoric rise in Gautam Adani’s fortunes happened after the BJP came to power in 2014 as he rose in the global rich list from the 609th to the second spot eventually. Participating in the debate on the Motion of Thanks to the President’s Address in Lok Sabha as the first Opposition speaker, Gandhi made a barrage of allegations against Modi.

He asked how much money Adani has given to the BJP in the last 20 years, including through electoral bonds.

Speaker Birla asked Gandhi to focus on the President’s address.

“There should be a case study on Adani by business schools such as Harvard, on how the relationship between business and politics works, India is a case study,” Gandhi said.

He also hit out at Modi for slamming the Opposition over its criticism of the Rafale deal by allegedly overlooking the capabilities of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL).

Speaker Om Birla disapproved of the Congress leader displaying certain pictures in the House. “If you show posters, they (BJP) will show posters of the Rajasthan chief minister (with Adani). Parliament is not for these things,” Birla said.

Gandhi alleged that the government tweaked rules in favour of Adani and said the clause that no one without any prior experience would be involved in the development of airports was done away with.

“This rule was changed by the government and Adani was given six airports. After that India’s most strategic, profitable airport, Mumbai Airport, was taken away from GVK using agencies,” Rahul Gandhi alleged.

“The result is 24 per cent of India’s air traffic and 31 per cent of air freight passes through Adani’s airports,” Gandhi said.

The treasury benches repeatedly asked Gandhi to authenticate his claims, saying that such allegations cannot be levelled against the government without documentary evidence.

“Adani never made drones while HAL used to do it and other companies do it. They have four defence firms and had not done this work before, small arms, sniper rifles, all are made by Adani,” he said.

Adani group has a 30 per cent market share in the airports business and also controls 90 per cent of Israel-India defence cooperation, he claimed.

The Budget Session will be completed in two parts- the first part of the session is being held from January 31 to February 11 and the second part will take place from March 14 to April 8.