The latest revelation that the Jayaswal family, named in the First Information Report (FIR) of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the coal block allocation controversy, had wanted Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal to arbitrate (in 2008) in their family dispute has provided a handle to opposition parties.
The minister has admitted that the three Jayaswal brothers wanted him to arbitrate in their family dispute but said he he’d declined the offer.
The letter of the Jayaswal family also states that the Lokmat media group be given 26 per cent stake in a company owned by them, for the efforts made by the latter’s promoters to get coal blocks allocated for them. The ruling party’s Member of Parliament, Vijay Darda, and his brother, Rajendra Darda, who is a minister in the Maharashtra government, are among the promoters of the Lokmat group who have also been named by the CBI in the FIR.
“We want to know what efforts were made by the Lokmat group in allocation of coal blocks to the Jayaswal family. The Prime Minister has to reply because he was the coal minister when these blocks were allocated free of cost. It seems some Jayaswals were more than close to Sriprakash Jaiswal,” said Ravi Shankar Prasad, the BJP spokesperson.
However, Rashid Alvi, the Congress party spokesman, dismissed any pressure on the minister to quit. “Even remotely, there is no such talk of him quitting or being asked to quit,” he said. Adding: “The government has not allocated any coal blocks by bending the rules.”