The coal block scam has become a major issue in the Kanpur Lok Sabha constituency of Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal, with his BJP rival Murli Manohar Joshi and Mahmood Rehmani of AAP attacking him over the controversial allocation.
Joshi, who was shifted to Kanpur from Varanasi to make way for Narendra Modi, came here on March 21, his first after the announcement of his candidature.
During the visit, the BJP candidate had made a veiled attack on Jaiswal, saying, "While investigating the coal block allocation scam as a member of the Parliament's Public Accounts Committee, I never imagined that one day I will have to fight elections from the constituency of a person whose name cropped up in the scam."
Also, during a rally here in October, BJP Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi had directly attacked Jaiswal, saying the people of the country would seek answers from Congress on the scam.
AAP candidate Rehmani has also been attacking Jaiswal over the issue.
"The people of Kanpur have elected Jaiswal three times, but what has he given to them...Scams involving crores of rupees," he said.
"The Congress-led government has committed two dozen scams like the coal scam with the people's money. Not alone Jaiswal, but all Congress candidates will have to give an answer to the country for this," he said.
Meanwhile, talking to reporters two days ago, Jaiswal had denied all allegations regarding the scam.
He had said he would quit politics if the charges were proven correct and dared his opponents to do the same if they were proven wrong.
He had said he had worked for the development of Kanpur and people of the city knew this very well.
