Both Houses of Parliament adjourned as Govt, Opposition trade charges over Rahul Gandhi's remarks in London, Adani Group row

Heated exchanges between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress over party leader Rahul Gandhi's remarks in the UK on Indian democracy forced adjournment of the second part of the budget session of Parliament for the second day on Tuesday.

Both Houses were adjourned first up to 2 pm. The Lok Sabha was adjourned within minutes of convening and the Rajya Sabha around 12.30 pm. The Houses were then adjourned for the day as BJP members kept demanding an apology from Gandhi, while the Congress and some other opposition parties kept demanding constitution of a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) to probe Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s alleged promotion of industrialist Gautam Adani.

Parliament can't sit and watch as an MP goes abroad and talks against the democracy of India, said Union minister Piyush Goyal, who is the leader of the Upper House. Congress members objected to his remarks about Gandhi, who was not a member of the Rajya Sabha, but Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav referred to certain rulings that show one can be criticised for speaking against House proceedings.

“A member of the House goes to a foreign country and talks against the democracy of India. I am shocked that some parties are backing him. I appeal to all parties to criticise a senior MP trying to defame our Parliament on the foreign land," Goyal said in the Rajya Sabha amid protest by Congress members.

Congress member Pramod Tiwari said Modi owes an apology to Parliament for his speech in Korea, while party colleague Shaktisinh Gohil filed a breach of privilege notice against Goyal for allegedly violating the rules by making allegations against Gandhi, a member of the other House.

“It is pertinent to note that Piyush Goyal repeatedly spoke about an hon'ble member of the Lok Sabha and kept on stating facts that are not true and was intentionally making derogatory remarks,” his notice said.

Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar reserved his ruling for Wednesday and adjourned the House for the day as the ruckus continued.

The Lok Sabha witnessed slogan shouting by both the BJP and the Congress as soon as the House began. BJP members were adamant that Gandhi should apologise, while the Congress, the DMK, the Left parties, and the Trinamool Congress demanded a JPC probe on the Adani issue.