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Coalgate: BJP demands PM's resignation

Also seeks Law Minister Ashwani Kumar's dismissal

Press Trust of India New Delhi
Last Updated : Apr 23 2013 | 1:45 PM IST
Intensifying its attack on the government over the coal block allocation scam, BJP today demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sacking of Law Minister Ashwani Kumar.

The BJP Parliamentary Party which met here under the chairmanship of L K Advani passed a resolution in this regard and charged the government with suppressing the truth from coming out in the coal scam.

The opposition party had stalled Parliament yesterday over the issue and demanded that the Law Minister make a statement on his alleged role in vetting the CBI affidavit for the Supreme Court on the coal scam investigation.

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"The BJP Parliamentary Party today has resolved that in the light of the series of scams and the present way in which the government has sought to suppress the truth from coming out, PM Manmohan Singh must resign and the Law Minister Ashwani Kumar must be sacked," BJP Deputy Leader in Rajya Sabha Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters after the meeting.

He said the party has formally demanded that the PM must resign and the Law Minister be sacked.

Prasad said the party is of the opinion that the UPA government under Singh has "destroyed" and "subverted" every institution in the country.

"The UPA government first indulges in corruption and then subverts institutions to suppress the truth. It stands exposed before the country. The UPA government has forfeited its right to govern. BJP demands that the Prime Minister and the Law Minister resign immediately," the BJP leader said.

Stepping up its attack, he said the government only wants a discussion on corruption and is not ready for any honest audit on it. He attacked the Law Minister, saying, "Since when does CBI need an English tutor like the Law Minister to correct the English of its affidavit."

Prasad alleged, "The Prime Minister's Office and the Law Minister have blatently interfered in the functioning of the CBI while investigating the coal block allocation scam."

The BJP Parliamentary Party also discussed the JPC draft report on 2G and former Telecom Minister A Raja's contention that whatever actions he took were in the knowledge of the Prime Minister and decisions taken after consulting him.

Prasad said inspite of the assurance from the Additional Solicitor General in March that contents of the CBI affidavit had not been shared with any political authority, the government has "misled" the Supreme Court and now "a very fake reason is being given that the Law Minister was correcting the grammer of the affidavit. This is preposterous, laughable."

BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu said it was "atrocious" on the part of the JPC Chairman to prepare a report indicting Atal Bihari Vajpayee, "one of the most popular" Prime Ministers of the country.

"They are trying to avoid their responsibilites and divert the attention of the people. It is highly deplorable and that is why we are demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister and the sacking of the Law Minister," Naidu told reporters here.

He was responding to a question on the "leakage" of the draft JPC report on coalgate.

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First Published: Apr 23 2013 | 12:25 PM IST

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