Lok Sabha to witness uproar as Congress to press for adjournment motion

The party said it would not settle for a discussion under a rule which does not entail voting

Lok Sabha will again witness uproar with Congress today asserting that it would press for an adjournment motion against Union Minister Sushma Swaraj on Lalit Modi issue and would not settle for a discussion on IPL issue under a rule which does not entail voting.

"We will press for adjournment motion against Swaraj. We are neither in favour of the subject nor the rule under which it is being planned," Congress leader K C Venugopal said.

A discussion on "the matters arising out of Indian Premier League (IPL) controversy and other related issues" is part of today's Lok Sabha agenda. It will be held under Rule 193 which does not entail voting.

Congress had yesterday alleged that former IPL Commissioner Lalit Modi had sought to do favours to a Gujarat-based industrialist during the time Narendra Modi was the then state Chief Minister, a charge rejected by BJP as "baseless and unfounded".

Former Union Minister and party leader Kapil Sibal alleged at a press conference that Lalit Modi had tried to help two industrialists, one of whom was from Gujarat, in getting them an IPL franchise when Narendra Modi and Amit Shah were president and vice president of the Gujarat Cricket Association in 2009.

Sibal alleged that Lalit Modi had rigged the tender conditions to favour the industrialists. He claimed that an inquiry committee under Arun Jaitley had held that the objective of Lalit Modi was to "restrict the number of bidders to favour Videocon and Adani groups".

Reacting to the charge levelled by Sibal, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar said Congress was resorting to "sensationalism" by levelling such "untrue, baseless and unfounded" allegations.