Congress workers on Thursday held protests in different parts of the country demanding a Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probe into the allegations against market regulator Sebi and business conglomerate Adani Group. The party also demanded the resignation of Sebi chief Madhabi Buch after a report by Hindenburg Research revealed that Buch and her husband had stakes in obscure offshore funds used in the alleged Adani money siphoning scandal.
In Telangana, Chief Minister and state Congress chief A Revanth Reddy, his ministerial colleagues, party legislators and senior party leaders including former external affairs minister Salman Khurshid took part in the protest.
Holding placards "The Truth Will Prevail" and raising slogans, the Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) leaders and workers took out a rally from Gun Park to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) office and later participated in the dharna in front of the ED office premises.
"We demand the resignation of the SEBI chairperson and constitution of the JPC to investigate Adani Megascam," they said.
The protest at the Jantar Mantar was attended by Delhi Congress chief Devender Yadav, senior leader Sachin Pilot, Kanhaiya Kumar and Udit Raj, among others.
"If you have not done anything wrong, then why are you not forming a joint parliamentary committee (JPC)? The entire nation should hear this and understand that the Congress only wants a fair and transparent investigation through JPC," Sachin Pilot said.
In UP, Congress leaders and workers led by state president Ajay Rai protested outside the Raj Bhavan and demanded the formation of a JPC.
The party's provincial spokesperson Anshu Awasthi said party workers were marching towards the office of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Lucknow but police stopped them near the Raj Bhavan, where they held their demonstration.
Rai said the recent Hindenburg Research report has completely exposed "corruption".
Mumbai Congress chief and Lok Sabha MP Varsha Gaikwad led the protest outside the ED office in south Mumbai. She said the central probe agency raids opposition leaders but is turning a blind eye in the SEBI-Adani case.
Congress has been pushing for a transparent investigation into the matter since the release of the Hindenburg report in January 2023, which accused the Adani Group of stock manipulation and accounting fraud.
In a recently released report, Hindenburg Research alleged that the chairperson of SEBI, the market regulator entrusted with the investigation into the matter, with her husband held hidden stakes in the 'obscure' offshore funds used by Vinod Adani, brother of billionaire Gautam Adani.
The report alleged that this is the reason why Sebi was not keen to thoroughly investigate the Adani Group.
Both Madhabi Buch and Adani have refuted the allegations with the ruling party terming it as a "conspiracy."
(With inputs from PTI)