Coalgate: PM must resign, says Yashwant Sinha

Guwahati: Dubbing the UPA government as a "national security risk", BJP leader Yashwant Sinha on Sunday said his party will not rest till Prime Minister Manmohan Singh resigned over the coal block allocations issue.

"The BJP and NDA are determined to fight it out. We will not rest till we bring down this corrupt government. This government has to go because it has become a national security risk," Sinha said at a public meeting here on the issue of CAG report on coal block allocation.

The BJP leader added, "We are not asking the Prime Minister to resign because he is criminally viable. That is yet to be decided. We are asking for his resignation on the ground of parliamentary, constitutional and moral grounds as the allocation of coal blocks took place when he was in charge of that ministry."

He said CBI took up the issue of block allocation on the basis of complaints filed by two BJP MPs - Prakash Javadekar and Hansraj Ahir - with the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) early this year.

"It was our two MPs who were responsible for exposing the issue. The UPA government cannot be credited for bringing a CBI investigation on the matter," Sinha said.

He termed as "unprecedented" the number of scams that have surfaced up during UPA-I and UPA-II regimes since 2004.

"There is corruption with impunity... This is the pattern we have seen with this government," Sinha said.

The BJP leader also slammed the Prime Minister for his comments on Comptroller and Auditor General.

"For the first time in the history of India's parliamentary democracy we saw a Prime Minister condemning a constitutional body like the CAG in Parliament. Conventions of parliamentary democracy have been flouted," he said.

Sinha said the CAG report has clearly pointed out that the Coal Ministry went for allocation on the first-cum-first basis even after the Prime Minister's Office decided that June 28, 2004, would be the cut-off date after which allocation would be made on the basis of competitive bidding.

Regarding the issue of logjam in Parliament on account of the coalgate issue, he said, "The BJP is justified in demanding the Prime Minister's resignation. If in the process Parliament is disrupted, so be it.

"The government is talking of a debate. But what is the use of a debate if next day the situation returns to status quo ante... Debate without accountability is a sterile debate," the former Union minister said.

He said BJP is fighting against people who are "shameless".

"When we are dealing with such shameless people, we also have to formulate our strategies accordingly. If we had been dealing with honest people, we would have adopted (a) different strategy," Sinha said.

Elaborating further, Sinha said only last year there was a long debate and parliamentary resolution on inflation.

"What happened to that resolution. Has it led to moderation in price rise?," he argued.

Sinha added that the UPA government is trying to divert attention from the real issues by resorting to claims that it followed the previous NDA government's policies.

He said that CAG's report is submitted only after a draft copy is first given to the Public Accounts Committee and chance given to the concerned ministry to raise objections.

"During the NDA period between 1998 to 2004, only 18 coal blocks were allocated, while during UPA-I of 2004-09, a total of 80 block were allocated," Sinha said, adding that the Congress party was involved in the process.

"The government also cites reservation from the states to the competitive bidding process. A government which did not listen to the states on the NCTC now talks of federalism," Sinha added.

Regarding the issue of BJP leader LK Advani's indication of softening of protest, Sinha said his party colleague Sushma Swaraj had held talks with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi to find ways to break the logjam but the matter was now over.

"But we are firm on the issue of Prime Minister's resignation," he said.