New Delhi, March 14
Opposition MPs on Wednesday took out a protest march from Parliament to the Enforcement Directorate‘s office in Delhi to hand over a complaint to the central probe agency on the Adani issue.
They were prevented by the police from proceeding to the ED office.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) kept away from the march.
Congress president and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge said, “Seventeen to 18 parties” took part in the march. He said while 200 MPs were participating in the march, 2,000 cops were deployed to stop them.
Later, Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said in a tweet that leaders and MPs of 16 like-minded Opposition parties were prevented from walking to the ED’s office to hand over a letter of complaint asking for an investigation into the “Adani scam”.
The letter was later emailed to the ED office, Ramesh said.
Addressed to ED director SK Mishra, the letter signed by the leaders of 16 parties, stated that over the last three months several crucial pieces of evidence have been made available in the public domain. Yet the ED, which claims to pursue such cases with vigour and fairness, is yet to launch even a preliminary enquiry into these very serious charges, it said.
“As a result we are constrained to file this official complaint so that the ED is compelled to investigate a relationship that has serious implications not just for our economy but most importantly, our democracy,” the letter, written on the official letterhead of Mallikarjun Kharge, said.
The letter alleged that the Adani group companies had repeatedly exercised improper influence to obtain concessions and contracts from governments and regulated entities.
