Coal scam fire yet to subside

Political wars are raging over the probe report on coal allocation being examined by the Law minister, the PMO and the Joint Secretaries of Coal Ministry, before it was submitted to the Supreme Court.

The PM rejected outright the demand made by the Opposition for his resignation. The PM spoke to the media at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan after a Defence Investiture Ceremony on Saturday. “This is not the first time they have asked for my resignation during the nine year tenure of UPA,” he said. He suggested that the Opposition debate the issue in the Parliament. The PM further pointed out that our nation has become a laughing stock in the eyes of the world by not allowing the parliament to function democratically. Decisions can be taken by proper discussions in the Parliament, he added.
When asked whether he would ask the Law Minister to resign, he emphatically said ‘No’, adding, the matter is sub-judice and it is not proper for him to take any action. He refused to comment on the criticism that he is using the Law Minister as a shield to safeguard himself
The main opposition party BJP is standing firm on the demand for the resignation of PM as the government has ‘lost confidence of the executive,  legislature, and the judiciary’.
Sudhamsu Trivedi, who is the official spokesman of BJP reiterated that they will participate in discussions only after the PM resigns. He threatened that they will not allow any bills to be passed in the parliament.
CPI demanded that Ashwani Kumar the Union law minister resign. The Secretary of CPI party, Suravaram Sudhakar told the media that the Law Minister tampered with the probe report which was confirmed by the CBI Director, Ranjith Sinha in the affidavit  submitted to the Supreme Court. As such it is morally obligatory for him to resign. The PM has to explain why the PMO joined the coalgate scandal. “It is nothing but abuse of political power,” he said.
The CBI filed a case in Delhi against another company in its investigation of coal scam saying they submitted false information while applying for allocation.  It also conducted raids in ten places all over the nation.
The offices of Pushp Steel & Mining Company in Delhi, Ghaziabad in UP Faridabad and Narwana in Haryana, Raipur in Chattisgarh along with their other associated companies were raided.  Raids were conducted on the houses of its directors Atul Jain and Sanjay Jain.
With this, the number of cases filed by the CBI in coal scam has reached 11. The CBI also said that Bhramha Puri coal block secured a mining lease, though it has no experience in mining operations or sufficient capital using its political clout in Chattisgarh. The CBI filed a case against the company for criminal conspiracy, fraud and corruption.

-Sakshipost