Both the Houses of Parliament were adjourned till December 9 without transacting much business on Friday. While the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day following Opposition uproar over BJP lawmaker Nishikant Dubey’s remark linking Congress with US billionaire George Soros, the Rajya Sabha was suspended after a bundle of currency notes was found on a seat in the house.

A heated exchange was witnessed between the treasury benches and the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha after Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar informed the House that a wad of cash was found on a seat belonging to Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi by security officials.

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“I hereby inform the members that during the routine anti-sabotage check of the chamber after the adjournment of the House yesterday. A wad of currency notes was recovered by the security officials from seat number 222 which is currently allotted to Abhishek Manu Singhvi, elected from the state of Telangana,” Mr Dhankhar said.

”The matter was brought to my notice, and I made sure an investigation takes place and the same is underway,” Dhankhar stated.

Congress President and Leader of the Opposition in the Upper House Mallikarjun Kharge was up on his feet in defence of his party colleague, who was not present in the House. He said, ”The Chair should not have named the member if the matter was under investigation.”

Parliament Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju said he did not understand why there should be an objection to the Chair naming of the member. ”The Chairman has rightly pointed out the seat number and the member who occupies that particular seat number. What is wrong with that? Why should there be an objection…? Don’t you think while we are going towards digital India, carrying a bundle of notes in the House is appropriate? We don’t carry note bundles in the House. I fully agree with the observation of the Chairman that there must be a serious investigation and the concerns raised by the members are also very genuine,” he elaborated on his contention.

Intervening in the matter, Union Ministers JP Nadda and Piyush Goyal described the incident as of a serious nature as it hurts the dignity of the House.

Responding to the Chairman’s statement from outside the House, Congress member Abhishek Manu Singhvi said he was “astonished” to hear this. If there is a failure of the security agencies, should also be exposed.

When the House reassembled at 2 pm, Union Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said the Narendra Modi Government would purchase all farm produce at the minimum support price (MSP). He gave the assurance in response to supplementaries during Question Hour on the issue of MSP to farmers.

The assertion came on a day when farmers embarked on a foot march to Delhi with a charter of demands including a legal backing to MSP.

Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day following pandemonium in the House over BJP lawmaker Nishikant Dubey’s comment “Congress ka haath Soros ke saath”.

Speaking during Zero Hour, the BJP lawmaker from the Godda constituency alleged that Congress has links with US-based billionaire investor George Soros. ”Congress is hand in glove with George Soros, did Soros pay for Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra or not? Soros paid for 1,000 Indian children to study abroad, how many of them are children of Congress leaders? My series of asking questions to the Congress party will continue,” he said, adding that he has ten questions to ask Congress.

Following the remarks, Congress members were up on their feet in protest. Samajwadi Party member, Dharmendra Yadav and TMC member Saugata Roy followed suit standing in their places to support the protesting Congress members.

Dubey had raised the issue on Thursday also, accusing the grand old party of colluding and conspiring with foreign forces in bringing the country down and disrupting its growth story.

Earlier, the proceedings were adjourned till noon amid the din caused by Opposition members over the issue.