Amid acrimonious scenes in the Rajya Sabha, Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge on Wednesday demanded a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the Adani Group case in the wake of the Hindenburg report even as the charged the Narendra Modi Government with favoured the Indian multinational conglomerate.

”There should be a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the Adani row… when the government is not afraid of anything then constitute a JPC,” he said while participating in the debate on the motion of thanks to the President for her address to the joint session of Parliament.

While attacking the PM, Kharge alleged, “Wealth of one of the closest friends of the prime minister increased by 12 times in the last two and half years. In 2014 it was Rs 50,000 crore group while in 2019 it became Rs 1 lakh crore group, but what ‘jadu’ (magic) happened that suddenly in two years assets worth Rs 12 lakh crore came…whether it is due to the favour of friendship.”

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who was present in the House, retorted, “It is a very smart thing to say… We are giving data and we will corroborate it, but it is completely infused with insinuation against the prime minister and that is what we are objecting to. They are overtly insinuating the PM.”

Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar asked Kharge to authenticate what he was saying in the House and observed that there should be a discussion in the House keeping in mind the national interest. To this, an agitated Kharge said, “I speak the truth, is it anti-national? I am not anti-national and more patriotic than anyone here as I am ‘bhoomi-putra’. You are looting the country and telling me that I am an anti-national.”

The chairman asked Kharge to refrain from casting aspersions, saying “You are insinuating the Prime Minister which can’t be allowed… Any report from any corner of the world cannot be quoted here.”

Leader of the House Piyush Goyal asserted that Kharge casting aspersions on the PM was unacceptable while BJP’s Sushil Modi raised a point of order saying a notice should be given in advance before any allegation is made.

Kharge, however, continued with his tirade against the Adani Group, saying it was taking money from public sector banks and purchasing public sector undertakings. “Privatisation is also diminishing the reservation system which they could have got in the PSUs,” he said.