New Delhi: May 02: Deputy Chairman of Rajya Sabha has to adjourn the house for three times on Monday as Opposition Congress demanded a reply from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on CAG pointing to anomalies in Gujarat’s KG Basin Gas Project.
Replying to Congress’s demand for a discussion on the report, Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said, ‘CAG reports are examined by Public Accounts Committees of state assemblies and there is no convention to discuss in Parliament’.
But, Congress did not agree with the reply of Kurien and rushed into the well of the house shouting slogans, ‘Pradhan Mantri Jawab Do…’. Kurien tried to resume the proceedings of the house after brief breaks, but had to adjourn the house repeatedly for similar uproarious scenes.
Madhusudan Mistry (Congress) alleged irregularities of over 30000 crore in this case whereas Anand Sharma of Congress said the government has been running away from a discussion on the issue. According to CAG report,’Modi, the then Chief Minister of Gujarat had announced in 2005 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’.
Criticising the stand taken by Congress, Minister of state for parliamentary affairs Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said,’ raising this issue, Congress is trying to divert attention from AgustaWestland (helicopter) deal”. He added, ‘PAC of state assemblies go into CAG reports and Parliament does not discuss them. “
