Addressing a special press conference at the AICC, Union Minister Kapil Sibal stressed that there was no question of anyone benefiting from coal block allocations as the mineral was never sold and accused the BJP of raking up the issue because of its desperation to come to power at the Centre before 2014.
"You cannot destroy the entire economic structure? Do they (Opposition) realize the consequences of what they are saying. Those making such demand do not appear to understand the coal sector. If the power and stell plants do not get coal, they will import it.
"Imported coal will be three times costlier. It will lead to costlier power and steel and that will ultimately lead to inflation. Are they not thinking about the country?," Union Minister Kapil Sibal said.
He suggested that the sale of coal on increased prices through the auction of coal blocks would have meant rise in power tariff and steel prices affected the common man.
"Under the nationalisation policy, coal cannot be sold... Coal from the blocks allotted was never sold. So, who could have benefitted...Why is there so much of noise? Did anyone sell the coal? This coal was meant for end users as input for power and steel industries," Sibal said.
He said government would have earned money from the end products through taxes and royalty from the mined coal.
Seeking to take the sting out of the Opposition attack on the government for criticising the CAG, Sibal said that the BJP suffered from "selective amnesia" and cited reported instances from past when BJP leaders attacked the national audit body. (MORE)