The Opposition rallied to block proceedings in both Houses of Parliament on Tuesday. They demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the alleged coal block allocation scam. The recent CAG report disclosed that the government’s policy in coal block allocation was far from transparent. Private operators benefited to the tune of Rs 1.86 lakh crore. The BJP’s guns were trained on the Prime Minister. He was held responsible for the alleged irregularities. Singh was in charge of the coal ministry when the allocations were made. The CAG has cast doubt on these very allocations. The Congress naturally rose to the Prime Minister’s defence saying that the CAG’s accounting was not reliable.
Of course, the BJP has again politicised the coal issue like the Assam issue and it is hardly the right thing to do. The government needs to get down to serious legislative business at this moment. The economy which is showing signs of ill-health needs to be revitalised. As a responsible opposition party, the BJP should not have blocked proceedings in the House. True, the Congress is in a precarious position with a series of scams sullying its image. But the BJP could be tarred with the same brush on the coal issue when the NDA was in office. It is time all parties joined hands to carry on fruitful discussions in Parliament. Coal sector reforms should be on the agenda as a clean-up operation is long overdue.
