Lok Sabha adjourned for day amid uproar over Adani stock rout

New Delhi: Amid noisy scenes, Lok Sabha proceedings were adjourned for the day on Thursday as opposition members raised slogans demanding a discussion and a joint parliamentary committee probe into the fraud-allegation-triggered rout in Adani Group company stocks.

Earlier in the day, Speaker Om Birla adjourned the proceedings till 2 pm as members of almost all opposition parties rushed to the Well of the House raising slogans on the tanking of Adani Group scrips and sought a probe into the business practices of the corporate giant.

As the House reconvened, opposition MPs stormed the Well of the Lok Sabha raising slogans against the Narendra Modi government and the Adani Group.

Amid the sloganeering, Rajendra Agarwal, who was in the Chair, allowed the laying of parliamentary papers in the House.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi appealed to the opposition members to allow discussion on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address to a joint sitting of both Houses.

"I plead with folded hands, please follow Parliamentary traditions and take up the debate on the Motion of Thanks," Joshi said.

As the protests and sloganeering continued, the presiding officer adjourned the proceedings of the House for the day.

The rout in Adani group stocks has threatened the value of investments made by the Life Insurance Corporation (LIC) and public sector banks.

Adani group stocks, where LIC is heavily invested, have lost over USD 100 billion in value since a tiny New York short seller came out with a damning report alleging financial and accounting fraud by the ports-to-energy conglomerate. The Adani group has denied all charges and called the report malicious and full of lies.