Modi Warns Opposition as He Faces Adani Questions in Parliament

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed for peaceful parliamentary proceedings shortly before opposition lawmakers demanded a debate about billionaire Gautam Adani, forcing proceedings to be adjourned.

Mallikarjun Kharge, president of the Indian National Congress and leader of the opposition in the upper house of the parliament, demanded a debate about Adani as the winter parliamentary session kicked off Monday. Opposition lawmakers in the lower house of the parliament could also be heard calling for a discussion on the matter before proceedings were adjourned until Wednesday.

The prime minister warned the opposition against disrupting proceedings, telling reporters shortly before the session began that there should be “healthy debate.” Some members were trying to control the parliament for their “own political gains,” he said.

The opposition — which has more than doubled its seats in the parliament after the June election result — had promised to raise the issue after US allegations last week linked Adani, who is considered to be a close ally of Modi, and other top executives to a $250 million bribery plot.

The whip from the Indian National Congress introduced a motion in the parliament on Monday for a discussion on the bribery charges and the prime minister’s “friendship with Adani.” More protests are likely during the winter parliamentary session, which lasts until Dec. 20.

The calls from the opposition follows a bruising election defeat in Maharashtra state, home to the financial capital Mumbai. Results on the weekend showed Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party swept the polls with more than two-thirds of the seats in the local legislature.

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