Chennai, Sep 1 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday justified the disruption of Parliament over the coal blocks allocation issue, saying the tactics have been adopted to ensure that the UPA Government led by Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh accepts accountability.
Senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu said the BJP could not be a silent spectator to the looting of the nation’s wealth, and added that obstruction is sometimes a parliamentary tactics.
Naidu alleged that the ruling Congress Party did not allow the Parliament’s Public Accounts committee (PAC) to probe the 2G spectrum scam.
“They didn’t allow the PAC to function properly. They are not allowing even the JPC to function properly now. They are criticising all the institutions. Lets us invent a new tactics so that the principle of accountability is not sacrificed. We will not keep quiet. We will take the fight to the people,” he added.
Naidu further said they were firm on their three demands, including resignation of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, cancellation and re-auctioning of 142 coal blocks and an independent inquiry into the scam.
He also charged that the Congress Party had obstructed the Parliament when it was in opposition from 1998-2004 on flimsy grounds.
“The Congress resorted to obstruction of Parliament, disruption of Parliament and stalling of Parliament on flimsy grounds. Flimsy grounds not connected sometimes with Indian Parliament,” added Naidu.
The Prime Minister had earlier on Friday 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.
Interaction 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.
Dr. Singh also criticized the BJP for disrupting the proceeding in Parliament.The Prime Minister had earlier on Monday 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, who spoke both inside Parliament as well as outside, took ‘full responsibility’ for the decisions taken by the Coal Ministry whose charge he directly held for some time and asserted that at ‘any allegation of impropriety is without any basis and unsupported by facts’.
Dr. Singh, who is facing sharp criticism from the opposition over the CAG report on coal block allocations, also urged the BJP to debate the issue in Parliament and not disrupt proceedings.
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.
Read more / Original news source: http://manipur-mail.com/bjp-justifies-disruption-of-parliament-over-coal-blocks/
