INDIA bloc cracks visible in Parliament as SP and TMC skip Adani protests

Congress, the main opposition party, and its allies were led by Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi in protesting on the Adani issue.

The SP (37 seats) and TMC (29 seats), which are the third and fourth largest parties in the Lok Sabha, skipping the joint protest is an apparent jolt to the INDIA bloc, which has suffered hurts in the recently held Haryana and Maharashtra assembly elections.

TMC, which is headed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, on Monday skipped the Opposition meeting on the US indictment against billionaire Gautam Adani.

Last week, TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee cleared his party aimed to corner the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre on issues concerning West Bengal.

Abhishek had said as quoted by NDTV, "Our stand is very clear. We will give priority to the issues of Bengal first. The Centre has blocked Bengal's dues. We want discussions in Parliament on these issues. Go and ask Congress. I have said we will prioritise Bengal's issues. What's their stand?"

As per reports, the TMC has expressed its reluctance in questioning the Modi government on the Adani issue claiming corruption doesn't make an impact on elections.

When a top Congress leader had invited TMC to join the previous meeting to corner the Modi government, Mamata's party colleague had refused stating corruption is no longer a poll issue, a Bengali news report said.

"Corruption no longer impacts elections," the TMC leader had said as quoted in the media.

While the Congress wants to raise the Adani issue in Parliament suspending all other businesses, the TMC is in favour of no disruption of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.

The TMC has said it would like to raise the Manipur unrest issue in Parliament and seek the Modi government's action to restore peace in the northeastern state.

Adani Green claims no bribery charges against Gautam Adani and his nephew in US indictment

The Adani Green Energy Limited has claimed no bribery charges have been levelled against billionaire and tycoon Gautam Adani, his nephew Sagar Adani and senior Adani Group executive Vneet Jain in the US indictment, countering several media reports.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, Adani Green claimed the media reports were "incorrect".

"Mr. Gautam Adani, Mr. Sagar Adani and Mr. Vneet Jaain have not been charged with any violation of the FCPA in the counts set forth in the indictment of the US DOJ or civil complaint of the US SEC.

"These directors have been charged on three counts in the criminal indictment namely (i) alleged securities fraud conspiracy, (ii) alleged wire fraud conspiracy, and (iii) alleged securities fraud," the statement read.