New Delhi

Leader of Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley today rejected Congress demand for a discussion on a CAG report pointing to anomalies in Gujarat’s KG Basin gas project, saying this was a “diversionary tactic” of the Opposition party by raising a “non-issue”.

Jaitley said the CAG report was being considered by the Public Accounts Committee of the Gujarat Assembly and hence it would be a wrong precedent to raise the subject in the House.

He accused the Congress of raising the issue “as a diversionary tactic” to counter the Trinamool Congress (TMC) notice to have a discussion on the AgustaWestland VVIP helicopter issue.

Countering this, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad said “this allegation is not true. We had given notice for this 4-5 days ago.”

Deputy Leader of Congress Anand Sharma said his party wanted a discussion on the AgustaWestland issue also and was “not running away”.

Senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh also took a dig at Jaitley saying that the Leader of House has “characteristically” made a series of misleading statements.

Azad said it was a question of thousands of crores worth loans taken from nationalised banks for the project that has now gone down the drain.

Congress members today forced several adjournments of the House by raising slogans and trooping into the Well, demanding a statement from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Countering Jaitley’s argument that it was a state matter, Azad said that oil and gas exploration was a national subject along with loans given by financial institutions.

Sharma too chipped in and said, “Let is be very clear.

Offshore gas exploration is a central subject. What we are discussing here is of national importance. Thousands of crores from public banks were given as loans”.

The Congress members then trooped into the Well shouting slogans like “Now it is clear, Modi government is corrupt”.

Countering them, BJP leaders also shouted slogans saying “Sonia Gandhi is corrupt”.

As the pandemonium continued, Deputy (rpt) Deputy Chairman P J Kurien adjourned the House till 3 PM.

Opposition forces 3 adjournments in Rajya Sabha over CAG report on KG basin

New Delhi

Opposition Congress today forced three adjournments in Rajya Sabha in the pre-lunch session demanding a response from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on CAG pointing out anomalies in Gujarat’s KG Basin gas project.

Congress sought a discussion on the latest report of CAG listing irregularities in Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation’s KG basin gas project.

While the government said CAG reports are examined by Public Accounts Committees (PACs) of state assemblies and there was no convention to discuss those in Parliament, Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said their notice seeking a discussion was under examination of the Chairman.

This did not satisfy Congress members who rushed into the Well of the House raising slogans “Pradhan Mantri jawab do, jawab do.”

Kurien first adjourned the proceedings for 15 minutes till 1130 hours, then till noon and therafter till 1232 hours as similar scenes were repeated when the House reassembled after the brief breaks.

No sooner were the listed papers laid, Madhusudan Mistry (Cong) sought to raise the issue of CAG slamming the handling of the Bay of Bengal KG Basin gas field project by Gujarat State Petroleum Corp (GSPC), a state government entity.

While Mistry alleged irregularities of over Rs 30,000 crore were found, Anand Sharma (Cong) said the government has been running away from a discussion on the issue.

“We want this issue to be settled… the matter has to be discussed,” he said.

Modi as Gujarat Chief Minister in 2005 had announced that GSPC had struck 20 Trillion cubic feet of gas reserves in its KG basin block. But recoverable reserves have proved to just one-tenth of that and GSPC’s borrowings shot up to Rs 19,716.27 crore as of March 31, 2015, according to CAG report.

Kurien said if notice is given, Chairman will examine it and called Sukhendu Shekhar Roy to speak on his notice.

Congress members did not relent and moved into the Well shouting slogans.

Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said PAC of state assemblies go into CAG reports and Parliament does not discuss them. “This is diversionary tactics. They are trying to divert attention from AgustaWestland (helicopter) deal,” he said. (more) PTI NKD ANZ AMR

As Congress members refused to relent, Kurien was on his feet asking agitated members to listen to him.

“Coming to the Well and shouting slogans is not justifiable, not acceptable. What are you going to achieve,” he asked, adding that the Congress members were encroaching upon the rights of 12 members who had given notices to raise Zero Hour submissions.

As the din continued, Kurien adjourned the House till 1130 hours.

When the House met again, similar scenes of slogan- shouting Congress members trooping into the Well were witnessed, forcing Kurien to adjourn the house till noon.

Before the House was adjourned, Naqvi said the House will discuss the AgustaWestland deal on Wednesday and asked Congress members to do their homework properly.

As Rajya Sabha met for the Question Hour at noon, Congress members again rushed into the Well and started raising similar slogans.

Chairman Hamid Ansari asked protesting members not to raise slogans.

As the pleas went unheeded and members of the main opposition party continued raising slogans, Ansari adjourned the House till 12.32 PM.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said the matter raised by Congress members pertain to the state and should be raised in the state assembly.

Before the bill to amend the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act was taken up for discussion, Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad sought to know if there will be a debate on the CAG report that pointed to anomalies in Gujarat’s KG Basin gas project.

“Will the point which we have raised be discussed here? What does he (Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs) have to say on this?” Azad asked.

To this, Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Muktar Abbas Naqvi said: “In the meeting held in the morning, LoP had raised this issue and demanded discussion. We had then said we were not ready for discussion. But there were discussions on various issues including Article 151 of the Constitution. It was then decided to leave the decision on Chairman. Whatever he decides, we will follow it.”

Congress member Jairam Ramesh again asked, “Is the government ready for discussion?”

Kurien said, “That is what he said. What he said is that the government has no objection for discussion. Whatever the decision taken by the Hon’ble Chairman, the government is ok with it.” PTI