NEW DELHI, Aug 24:
The deadlock in Parliament is set to enter the second week with no signals of a thaw emerging between the BJP and the Government on the CAG report on coal blocks allocation issue.
BJP leaders are aggressive on the demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, contending the Coalgate has presented them the best opportunity for targeting the Congress with the CAG speaking of “undue benefits” of Rs 1.86 lakh crore in coal block allocations.
“There is no question of diluting our stand,” a BJP leader said, adding the party is likely to continue pressing for its demand till the end of the monsoon session.
This is for the first time that the Congress has come under direct attack in a scam. While A Raja, indicted in the 2G spectrum scam, is a DMK leader, Sharad Pawar (NCP) was accused of being responsbile for price rise and Praful Patel (NCP) charged with being responsible for alleged civil aviation scams.
While informal contact was on between the rival sides, Government managers contend the BJP has pushed itself in a corner by its demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and is unable to wriggle out of it.
“How can the Prime Minister call an all-party meeting when a major opposition party wants nothing but his ouster”? remarked a senior Minister when queried why the PM was not taking any initiative to resolve the deadlock.
CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury today said “a possible way” to break the logjam was that the Prime Minister holds talks with the Leaders of the Opposition in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha in the presence of Leader of the Lower House.
Left parties said the PM should appeal to the principal opposition party to agree for a discussion that would follow a statement from him in the House.
This, Yechury said, should be done without delay and a solution should be found out before the PM leaves for the NAM Summit. “Or else another week will be wasted,” he added.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram appealed to the opposition to come back to Parliament on Monday and allow it to function so that first thing the Prime Minister can do is to make a statement and a debate can follow to any length of time it wants.
He said UPA was being unnecessarily targeted for following procedures adopted by the Governments since 1994 in allocating coal blocks without auction.
“This presumptive loss (of Rs 1.86 lakh crore projected by CAG in its report), I deeply regret to say, is so flawed… incisive articles by very eminent writers have pointed out these flaws,” he said.
A battery of Ministers, led by Chidambaram, accused the Opposition of being “unwilling” to allow Parliament to function and discuss the issue.
Meanwhile, a meeting of the Congress Core Group headed by party Chief Sonia Gandhi, deliberated on the way ahead. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Bansal had a meeting with Gandhi earlier in the day.
Bansal, as also the Leader of Lok Sabha Sushilkumar Shinde, held informal consultations with the Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj to break the deadlock.
NDA is reportedly in touch with non-Congress parties to bring them around to their point of view. A meeting of such parties is likely on Monday.
Presiding officers of the two Houses may also call the political parties for a meeting on Monday to resolve the impasse.
The Finance Minister said no coal has been mined so far in 56 out of the 57 blocks examined by the CAG.
Taking a dig at the enormous loss calculated by the CAG, he said, “I think, thanks to rising prosperity in the country over the last few years, we are all enamoured about the numbers which run into six digits and nine digits.”
He also attacked the Opposition saying the Government was being pilloried for attempting to put in place a new transparent way of allocating coal blocks by amending the law.
“A Government which brought about, although after some time, a successful change in policy is being blamed for continuation of a policy that had its origin many years before the UPA came into being. So, if you did nothing, you are not to be blamed. If you try to bring about a change, you are to be blamed. Is that the standard by which we will conduct our public affairs,” he said.
Explaining the delay in changing the policy, he said Governments after Government in states had opposed auction of coal blocks. The Centre could have changed the procedure by an executive order but decided not to because that would have amounted to riding roughshod over the States.
Asked about Law Ministry’s recommendation in 2006 that coal blocks can be auction through an administrative order, Chidambaram said the Government avoided it because it could have been challenged in court.
The Government, he said, wanted to proceed ahead by changing the law which it did subsequently after both the Houses passed an amending law.
On Government’s strategy to deal with the coal issue, Chidambaram said, “our strategy has been largely determined by one word – patience. We have been extremely patient”.
He said Prime Minister’s statement on the issue is ready and added: “If you demand the Prime Minister’s resignation, then I don’t think you can demand any thing more. They (BJP) have pitched the demand so high …Demanding the Prime Minister’s resignation. They should show the Prime Minister the courtesy to listen to his statement”.
If the Prime Minister is not allowed to make a statement in Parliament on Monday, the government, Chidambaram said, “will have to find a way how Prime Minister can speak to the people. We are making a small attempt to speak to the people through the media.
“We are disappointed that the opposition especially the BJP is unwilling to allow Parliament to function and unwilling to discuss the matter on the floor of the House,” he added.
Meanwhile, the CAG report on coal block allocation washed out Parliament proceedings during the entire week with the Opposition unrelenting on its demand even today for resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
For the fourth consecutive day, members from TDP and AIADMK backed the NDA in the Rajya Sabha in the protest while the Lok Sabha saw BJP members again storming the Well with no end to the turmoil in sight.
“Raja ko jail, PM ko bail; wah re Congress tera khel (Jail to Raja, Bail to PM, What a game by Congress), Koyle ki dalali hai, puri Congress kaali hai (brokership in coal block allocation, entire Congress is blackened),” were the slogans raised by the Opposition in both Houses on the last working day of the week.
They were countered vociferously by Congress members, who attacked the opposition for disrupting Parliament and waved documents to drive home the point that chief ministers of the BJP-ruled states were not in favour of auction of coal blocks.
NC member in Lok Sabha Mehboob Beg was seen displaying a placard saying ‘Don’t Stall Parliament, Stall Declining Economic Growth Instead’.
As soon as both the Houses met for the day, opposition members rushed to the Well raising slogans against the Prime Minister.
In the Lok Sabha, BJP and Shiv Sena members crowded the Well raising slogans against the Government over “undue favours” extended to private firms to the tune of Rs 1.86 lakh crore in coal block allocation, as brought forth by the CAG.
Speaker Meira Kumar took up the Question Hour but nothing could be heard in the din. As the din continued, she adjourned the House till noon.
When the House reassembled, it was adjourned for the day immediately after laying of papers.
Rajya Sabha also witnessed slogan shouting by BJP-led NDA members the moment Chairman Hamid Ansari took up the listed business.
As BJP members shouted slogans demanding resignation of the Prime Minister, the treasury benches countered them by hailing Singh.
Ansari’s requests to allow the Question Hour to proceed had no impact on the agitating Opposition and he adjourned the House till noon.
When the House reassembled, the Opposition members stood up shouting slogans.(PTI)
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