The standoff between the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government and the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over the alleged coalgate scam has held up Parliament for over 10 days, with the BJP bolstering its case of lack of transparency in allocation of coal blocks using the CAG report.
However, a closer scrutiny of the coal block allocation saga reveals that unbridled political influence from both the sides was instrumental in transferring the coal blocks to the companies. A case in point is the allocation of two coal blocks in Chhattisgarh to SKS Ispat and Power Limited in which Union minister Subodh Kant Sahai’s brother Sudhir Kant Sahai was a director.
The BJP alleged that Sahai, as Union minister, used his position to obtain coal block for the company. To bolster its case, the BJP produced a letter written on February 5, 2008, by Subodh Kant Sahai to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for the latter’s “personal intervention” for an application filed by SKS Ispat for two coal blocks in Chhattisgarh. Within 24 hours, the PMO forwarded the letter to the coal ministry. On February 7, Sahai’s brother Sudhir Kant Sahai himself was present at the screening committee meeting, and the panel decided to allot a coal block each to both SKS Steel and Power and Prakash Industries Ltd.
When confronted with these facts, Subodh Kant Sahai did not deny these charges. Instead, addressing a press conference on August 31, Sahai in turn leveled charges against Prakash Industries Ltd, which was alleged to be close to the BJP and the RSS. He also alleged Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh was aware of the allocation. “Despite this, BJP is levelling these allegations against me and disrupting Parliament to realise their dream of coming to power, which will never be fulfilled,” Sahai said. He maintained that his name was cleared by the Delhi High Court in a case filed in 2010 on these two coal block allocations.
BJP, however, has chosen to steer clear from getting entangled in this mudslinging. Senior BJP leader Siddharth Nath Singh said, “Sahai claimed to have written the letter to promote industries in Jharkhand, his home state, but the actual allocation happened in Chhattisgarh. Even if one of the company is linked to the RSS and BJP, the question is why was he promoting a company in which his own brother was a member.” BJP has demanded an outright cancellation of allocation of all 142 coal blocks. The party has also demanded the resignation of Sahai.
When asked about the issue, Finance Minister P Chidambaram today declined to comment saying, “The prime minister will take a call on that. I will not comment on a fellow colleague.” In the past, Shashi Tharoor was compelled to resign as Union minister on the grounds of “impropriety” when his wife was alleged to have benefited from sweat equity in the cricket Indian Premier League (IPL).
A senior Cabinet minister confessed the Sahay issue constituted a similar matter of “impropriety”, but the political impasse that has engulfed the government makes it difficult for the UPA to admit this.
