Coalgate verdict: Congress, BJP both claim SC vindication

With the Supreme Court quashing the allocation of 214 coal blocks dating back to 1993, the opposition Congress party claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s poll campaign of targeting its 2004-14 tenure had proved hollow.

Party spokesperson Anand Sharma said, "The allocations that have been struck down cover a period of several governments, including those headed by the BJP (1998-2004)."

On the other hand, the BJP says it welcomes the SC verdict for having vindicated its stand on illegal coal block allocations during the Congress-led regimes. Its secretary, Shrikant Sharma, said: "We have been saying that the allocations made between 2006 and 2009 were made illegally, after ignoring the systems. These allocations had caused a loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crore."

Snowed under a series of scams, prominent among these being 'Coalgate', the Congress was on the backfoot. The BJP has now taken the moral high ground, saying it would cleanse the sector, bringing transparency in allocation.

To which, Sharma said the BJP "should stop talking in an irresponsible manner". He said they'd claimed in their poll campaign to bring back unaccounted money kept abroad by tax evaders within 100 days of coming to power at the Centre. "The talk has disappeared and the Baba who was making the talk has also disappeared", he said, in an apparent reference to Ramdev, who'd later also supported the BJP. Stating the Congress generally "does not comment on judicial proceedings," Sharma added, "It is for the government of the day to implement court orders."