Questioning the union government's announcement to reject CAG report on coalgate, Chairman of Public Accounts Committee in Parliament Dr Murli Manohar Joshi said when PAC has not given its report how can government reject the same.
‘When the PAC has not given its report on the CAG disclosure on the coal mines allotment, how can the government reject the CAG report. The government should wait till PAC gives its findings,’ the PAC chief said while addressing reporters here on Sunday.
He also came down heavily on Congress saying the party was attacking constitutional bodies like CAG to save itself from scams. Such act of the government and the ruling party shows its weakness to defend themselves, he said.
Dr Joshi said that both the Congress and the central government were trying to hush up the entire coal mines scam. ‘ The UPA government has tried to benefit some private companies through the illegal coal mine allotment. The government's statement that there is no financial loss till coal is taken out from the mine is not justified because the share of these companies rose after they were allotted the mines,’ he said.
Dr Joshi also asked how the steel and power industries were functioning in the country if these mines were non-operative for the last 10 years.
On a different note, Dr Joshi, who is also senior BJP leader, said that both Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav and MNS chief Raj Thackrey are dangerous for the country ‘because both follow divisive politics.’
‘The politics of Samajwadi Party revolves around appeasing Muslims, while MNS thrives on berating north Indians particularly from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Both these trends are detrimental for the country,’he said.
Dr Joshi said Yadav's politics to appease the minorities and ignore the majority community is highly objectionable.
‘The declaration of Mr Yadav to implement the Sacchar Committee and Rangnath Mishra Commission's report is unethical because a nationwide debate should be held for this purpose first,’ Dr Joshi said and added: ‘The SP leader should not make any move that divides the society.’ The former BJP president also criticised Thackrey for opposing the leaders from other states contesting from Maharastra.'
'The BJP do not support such move by any political party trying to create differences among the people of the states and communities,’ he said.
CBI SEEKS COALGATE ANSWERS IN CHHATTISGARH
As Central Bureau of Investigations prepares itself to register FIRs in the coalgate scam, a team of about three officials from the economic offences wing has been sent to Chhattisgarh to probe the alleged beneficiaries. A team had already visited Jharkhand last week and is reported to have brought vital documents. CBI has been aiming about a dozen private firms who allegedly received benefits during the process of coal blocks allocation. 'We have inputs that few private companies forged documents and arbitrarily given the coal blocks and we are trying to collect evidence for the same,' a CBI official said.
The CBI is investigating 1,422 applications for 64 coal blocks that were received by the coal ministry between 2006 and 2009 from 146 private companies. Companies like Reliance Power's Sasan, Tata Power, Hindalco and Grasim Industries, ArcelorMittal, GVK Power, MMTC and others are on the probe agency's radar.
The CBI had registered a preliminary enquiry into the matter on 1 June since when they have been scrutinizing files which they sought from concerned central ministries and state governments. First FIR in the case could be registered any day now considering the momentum the agency has picked up after a furore which was created in the Parliament after tabling of the CAG report on 17 August.
CVC TO LOOK INTO CBI PROBE
The Central Vigilance Commission will take a stock of CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the utilisation of coal blocks allocated to private companies between 2006 and 2009.
A meeting of CBI Director A P Singh with CVC Pradeep Kumar is likely to take place soon where the former will give a detailed presentation on the probe conducted so far by the agency.
‘The meeting between top brass of CBI and CVC will take place soon where the investigating agency will give a detailed presentation on the probe and future course of action,’ a source said.
Officials said the meeting between the heads of CBI and CVC will be crucial as the opposition has been continuously disrupting Parliament for past several days citing irregularities mentioned in the CAG report. CVC had in May this year referred the case to CBI for further probe.
FIGHT THE BJP, SONIA TELLS CONG WORKERS
Congress president Sonia Gandhi is unhappy over the way the lower rung party leadership has responded to the coal block allocation charges by the BJP and wants the party to brace for the larger political battle ahead and to fight BJP's propaganda, sources close to her said.
'Gandhi is unhappy over the way the party's lower rung leadership (secretaries) has responded to the coal blocks allocation charges by the BJP... She wants the party to fight out the opposition's propaganda down to the village level,' a member of the Congress Working Committee, the party's highest decision-making body said, requesting anonymity while speaking.
This, said the leader, is the reason behind Gandhi's recent aggressive stances against the BJP, both inside and outside parliament as she has sensed that the opposition party wants the parliament logjam over the issue to spill over the monsoon session ending 7 Sep.
'The party workers at the local level have to be energised for the political fight with the BJP. Hence, Gandhi's aggressive stance,' he said.
The Comptroller and Auditor General's report alleged private players made windfall gains to the tune of Rs 1.85 lakh crore in allocation of coal blocks by the UPA government. The BJP has not allowed parliament to function for the past two weeks over the CAG report and has demanded Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation as he had held the coal portfolio in UPA-I.
According to Congress leaders, the BJP is stalling parliament in an attempt to precipitate a mid-term poll, which could revive its fortunes.
The BJP has vowed to take the matter to the streets to score political points, and Gandhi wants the Congress to launch a counter attack.
‘When the PAC has not given its report on the CAG disclosure on the coal mines allotment, how can the government reject the CAG report. The government should wait till PAC gives its findings,’ the PAC chief said while addressing reporters here on Sunday.
He also came down heavily on Congress saying the party was attacking constitutional bodies like CAG to save itself from scams. Such act of the government and the ruling party shows its weakness to defend themselves, he said.
Dr Joshi said that both the Congress and the central government were trying to hush up the entire coal mines scam. ‘ The UPA government has tried to benefit some private companies through the illegal coal mine allotment. The government's statement that there is no financial loss till coal is taken out from the mine is not justified because the share of these companies rose after they were allotted the mines,’ he said.
Dr Joshi also asked how the steel and power industries were functioning in the country if these mines were non-operative for the last 10 years.
On a different note, Dr Joshi, who is also senior BJP leader, said that both Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav and MNS chief Raj Thackrey are dangerous for the country ‘because both follow divisive politics.’
‘The politics of Samajwadi Party revolves around appeasing Muslims, while MNS thrives on berating north Indians particularly from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Both these trends are detrimental for the country,’he said.
Dr Joshi said Yadav's politics to appease the minorities and ignore the majority community is highly objectionable.
‘The declaration of Mr Yadav to implement the Sacchar Committee and Rangnath Mishra Commission's report is unethical because a nationwide debate should be held for this purpose first,’ Dr Joshi said and added: ‘The SP leader should not make any move that divides the society.’ The former BJP president also criticised Thackrey for opposing the leaders from other states contesting from Maharastra.'
'The BJP do not support such move by any political party trying to create differences among the people of the states and communities,’ he said.
CBI SEEKS COALGATE ANSWERS IN CHHATTISGARH
As Central Bureau of Investigations prepares itself to register FIRs in the coalgate scam, a team of about three officials from the economic offences wing has been sent to Chhattisgarh to probe the alleged beneficiaries. A team had already visited Jharkhand last week and is reported to have brought vital documents. CBI has been aiming about a dozen private firms who allegedly received benefits during the process of coal blocks allocation. 'We have inputs that few private companies forged documents and arbitrarily given the coal blocks and we are trying to collect evidence for the same,' a CBI official said.
The CBI is investigating 1,422 applications for 64 coal blocks that were received by the coal ministry between 2006 and 2009 from 146 private companies. Companies like Reliance Power's Sasan, Tata Power, Hindalco and Grasim Industries, ArcelorMittal, GVK Power, MMTC and others are on the probe agency's radar.
The CBI had registered a preliminary enquiry into the matter on 1 June since when they have been scrutinizing files which they sought from concerned central ministries and state governments. First FIR in the case could be registered any day now considering the momentum the agency has picked up after a furore which was created in the Parliament after tabling of the CAG report on 17 August.
CVC TO LOOK INTO CBI PROBE
The Central Vigilance Commission will take a stock of CBI probe into the alleged irregularities in the utilisation of coal blocks allocated to private companies between 2006 and 2009.
A meeting of CBI Director A P Singh with CVC Pradeep Kumar is likely to take place soon where the former will give a detailed presentation on the probe conducted so far by the agency.
‘The meeting between top brass of CBI and CVC will take place soon where the investigating agency will give a detailed presentation on the probe and future course of action,’ a source said.
Officials said the meeting between the heads of CBI and CVC will be crucial as the opposition has been continuously disrupting Parliament for past several days citing irregularities mentioned in the CAG report. CVC had in May this year referred the case to CBI for further probe.
FIGHT THE BJP, SONIA TELLS CONG WORKERS
Congress president Sonia Gandhi is unhappy over the way the lower rung party leadership has responded to the coal block allocation charges by the BJP and wants the party to brace for the larger political battle ahead and to fight BJP's propaganda, sources close to her said.
'Gandhi is unhappy over the way the party's lower rung leadership (secretaries) has responded to the coal blocks allocation charges by the BJP... She wants the party to fight out the opposition's propaganda down to the village level,' a member of the Congress Working Committee, the party's highest decision-making body said, requesting anonymity while speaking.
This, said the leader, is the reason behind Gandhi's recent aggressive stances against the BJP, both inside and outside parliament as she has sensed that the opposition party wants the parliament logjam over the issue to spill over the monsoon session ending 7 Sep.
'The party workers at the local level have to be energised for the political fight with the BJP. Hence, Gandhi's aggressive stance,' he said.
The Comptroller and Auditor General's report alleged private players made windfall gains to the tune of Rs 1.85 lakh crore in allocation of coal blocks by the UPA government. The BJP has not allowed parliament to function for the past two weeks over the CAG report and has demanded Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's resignation as he had held the coal portfolio in UPA-I.
According to Congress leaders, the BJP is stalling parliament in an attempt to precipitate a mid-term poll, which could revive its fortunes.
The BJP has vowed to take the matter to the streets to score political points, and Gandhi wants the Congress to launch a counter attack.