New Delhi, Sep 3 (ANI): Finance Minister P. Chidambaram on Monday defended the government over coal blocks allocation issue, saying the Bharatiya Janata Party’s demand for Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s resignation is ‘outrageous and unsound’.
Chidambaram said the BJP’s demand for cancellation of 142 coal blocks is not based on logic, and added that the cancellation of coal blocks will affect the Indian economy.
The Finance Minister said the process is underway, and added that the government has done all that required to be done in this regard.
“If coal policy is flawed, it has been flawed since 1993. Coal policy cannot be put in place through a diktat,” he said.
He also urged the opposition not to disrupt parliamentary proceedings over the coal blocks allocation issue, and said that the government is ready to start debate tomorrow.
Chidambaram further said a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry into the coal blocks allocation is underway, and added that the apex-investigating agency will do whatever is necessary.
With no end to the government-BJP standoff over CAG report on coal blocks allocation, the last week of the
Monsoon Session of Parliament began on Monday with a repeat of stormy scenes raising the possibility of a washout of the remaining four days.
The month-long session, which already lost the previous two weeks to BJP’s unrelenting demand for resignation of the Prime Minister, again saw uproar created by BJP members, leading to wastage of one more day of both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
The BJP has held the Prime Minister, who then held direct charge of the coal ministry, responsible for what has been estimated as a notional loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crores by the CAG in coal block allocations, and demanded his resignation.
The CAG report on coal block allocations states that nearly 150 coalfields were allotted to private and state-run firms without transparency and objectivity between 2005 and 2009.
However, Dr. Singh had rejected the CAG’s observations as ‘misleading’ and ‘flawed’, and blamed the opposition parties for thwarting the efforts of his government to bring a policy of competitive bidding.
Dr. Singh also ruled out any possibility of quitting the top post despite the BJP firm on its demand for his resignation over the coal blocks allocation issue.
Interacting with mediapersons onboard the special plane while returning to New Delhi from Tehran after attending the 16th NAM summit, Dr. Singh said that he can’t get into a war of words with political leaders, and added that he has to maintain the dignity of the office of the Prime Minister.
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/bjps-demand-for-pms-resignation-is-outrageous-fm/
