"We cannot over-rule. We do not have majority in the Rajya Sabha. We cannot pass any bill. If the BJP chief ministers are not on board, no bill can be passed in the Rajya Sabha... There was no point in pushing the legislation when all the chief ministers were not on board," Sibal told Karan Thapar's on CNN-IBN Devil's Advocate programme.
Rejecting the charge of complicity of the government on the issue, he said the process for bringing the competitive bidding for coal block allocation had begun in 2000 itself when NDA was not in power.
"Was then the BJP complicit in not doing it for last four years. Was the then Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee complicit," he said when told that the Opposition is alleging the complicity of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh into the issue of delay in bringing the policy.
He stoutly rejected charges of corruption against Congress into the matter in the wake of allegations levelled by the Opposition against Union Minister Subodh Kant Sahay, who had written a letter to the Prime Minister asking for allocation of coal blocks to a particular company.
"The allegations by the BJP are preposterous and irresponsible... The BJP is trying very hard to destabilise the government... Congress made no money. No Congress minister made any money," Sibal said.
He was asked to comment on reports in a section of media about Sahay's brother being a member of a Screening Committee that allocated coal blocks to a firm on which he was a director. (MORE)
