Trashing the demand, party spokesperson Renuka Chowdhary said, "They may want many things. But we are not willing to oblige....The question does not arise...We do not believe he (Singh) is in the dock. I am very certain he is not involved".
"They are spreading untruths and canards...Satyamev jayate...The truth will triumph," she said.
A Union Minister said if Opposition agreed for a discussion on the issue, their case would have "totally been demolished", given the fact that two BJP Chief Ministers and the previous Left government in West Bengal had advised the Centre in writing against following an auction mode for coal block allocations.
Rajasthan's Vasundhara Raje and Chhattisgarh's Raman Singh had written to the Centre making a strong pitch for continuing with the practice of giving captive coal blocks.
Government managers were marshalling their forces by briefing MPs from the ruling alliance to counter the Opposition propaganda on the matter. A Union minister, who declined to be identified, said BJP was heating up the atmosphere under an illusion that this was the best time for forcing a mid-term poll.
At the AICC briefing, Chowdhary took care so as not to be seen as attacking the CAG, a marked departure from the earlier aggressive posturing on the issue by some party leaders who had accused the auditor of crossing the line.
"It's not a question of rejecting or accepting the CAG findigs. CAG has seen something from their point of view...We feel they have not looked at some of the things. But we can answer to the issues raised by them. We can produce evidences. Why the Opposition is not ready to listen...Why it is running away from the debate," Chowdhary said.
On the Minister of State in PMO V Narayanasamy saying that the government auditor had not followed the mandate, Chowdhary said, "That is Naraynasamy's opinion. We are saying we can explain what the CAG has said about the pre-emptive loss."
