Oppn stalls House,tells PM to resign
Coal blocks: PMs promise to answer all issues being raised is ignored,BJP steps up attack
The CAG report on coal block allocation rocked Parliament on Tuesday with opposition parties disrupting proceedings of both Houses demanding Prime Minister Manmohan Singhs resignation. The government and Opposition looked headed for a prolonged confrontation even after the PMs assurance to take into account all their questions.
We are ready for any debate. We can give satisfactory answers to all the issues being raised, the PM told reporters.
Terming the demand for Prime Ministers resignation preposterous,Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal said: Let them come for a discussion… They know there is nothing. Still they are trying to create a situation on an issue which is not there.
The UPA is likely to firm up its strategy for Parliament at a Coordination Committee meeting Wednesday. Government sources said that they were ready to take on the BJP as the latter was running away from a debate to avoid exposure of its double-speak. BJP governments in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh had opposed the auction route in coal blocks,they pointed out.
The NDA first forced adjournment of the Lok Sabha till noon on Tuesday and then for the day. The Rajya Sabha could function only to allow the election of P J Kurien as deputy chairman.
Deputy leader of the BJP in the Rajya Sabha Ravi Shankar Prasad said they would continue to seek the PMs resignation as coal allocation issue was not an isolated incident,listing 2G spectrum,Commonwealth Games and the public-private airport partnership issue. The UPA government is one of scam,shame,scandals,corruption and loot,Prasad said.
The BJP leader maintained that since Manmohan Singh had held the coal portfolio for five years after the UPA came to power in 2004,he was responsible for the loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crore estimated by CAG. If scams keep happening,we owe it to the people to demand the PMs resignation, said Prasad.
Asked why it was not agreeing to a debate on the coal allocation issue,the BJP argued that discussions had taken place in Parliament on the 2G spectrum issue and Commonwealth Games scams but nothing had come of them.
Sibal: Oppn states opposed auction
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal rejected allegations against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over allocation of coal blocks and partly blamed the Opposition-ruled states for it. Our PM can never do anything wrong. And if anyone levels such allegations that the PM has done something wrong,then there is no correctness to that allegation, Sibal said Tuesday.
He said coal-bearing states of Chhattisgarh,West Bengal,Orissa,Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh,where the Congress was not in power,had opposed allocation of coal mines to private firms through competitive bidding or auction. Chhattisgarh,Bengal,Orissa,Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh,we are not the governments in these states. All chief ministers said coal blocks should not be auctioned. This should be investigated,what did they say. Only then allegations should be made, he said.
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