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Parliament LIVE: Manish Tewari Gives Adjournment Notice in LS Over VG Siddhartha’s ‘Harassment’

VG Siddhartha 2

Parliament LIVE: The alleged suicide of Café Coffee Day founder and former Karnataka chief minister SM Krishna’s son-in-law VG Siddhartha is likely to rock Parliament today as the Congress has moved an adjournment motion in the Lok Sabha over the ‘harassment’ of the Coffee King by Income Tax officials, which allegedly forced him to take the extreme step.

In his alleged suicide note, which was recovered after he went missing, Siddhartha blamed one of his private equity partners for “creating pressure” to buy back stocks. He also alleged harassment by the previous DG, Income Tax. “There was a lot of harassment from the previous DG income tax attaching our shares on two separate occasions to block our Mindtree deal and then taking position of our Cafe Coffee Day shares, although the revised returns have been filed by us. This is very unfair and has led to serious liquidity crunch,” the letter read.

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah will take up the contentious Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Amendment Bill, 2019, for consideration in the Rajya Sabha today after it was passed in Lok Sabha last week. Meanwhile, in the Lower House, Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will move the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill, 2019, for amendment.

The Unlawful Activities Prevention Amendment (UAPA) Bill is an anti-terror legislation that seeks to designate an individual as a “terrorist”. On July 24, Lok Sabha cleared the changes to the existing law, with 284 votes in favour and eight against after the Opposition walked out in protest, terming it draconian and demanding that it be referred to a standing committee for scrutiny. However, during the debate Shah had said, “We are bringing in laws that will end terrorism in the country and we promise that the government will never misuse it. Terrorism has to be dealt with, with strict laws.”

The Rajya Sabha on Monday approved amending the three-year-old Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC), providing clarity about preference to secured lenders over operational creditors and giving lenders explicit authority over distribution of proceeds of auction of loan defaulting companies. Replying to a debate on the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill 2019, Sitharaman had said the changes being brought in now are in response to events that eroded legislative intent of the IBC.

The contentious bill to ban ‘Triple Talaq’ by making it a criminal offense, which failed the Rajya Sabha test last time, sailed through the opposition-dominated Upper House on Tuesday aided by a series of walkouts and abstentions.






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