New Delhi: The government on Friday put up its strongest defence with regard to the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report on the coal blocks allocation saying there was no question of a loss as the coal was not yet mined and was still inside "Mother Earth", even as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) continued to stall Parliament on the fourth consecutive day.
The attack by the UPA government was led by Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who was a relieved man as the Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition filed by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy seeking a probe into his role in the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
The Supreme Court observed that "there is no prima facie material to show that P Chidambaram got pecuniary benefits" and that "there is no material evidence available to show that Chidambaram abused his position. No case is made out against P Chidambaram and the special leave petition filed against the judgement of the special CBI court is not liable to be entertained. Accordingly, the SLP is rejected."
Following the judgement, while the Finance Minister refrained from making any statement on the verdict, he hit out at the Opposition strongly for stalling Parliament.
Chidambaram, along with Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal and Union Law Minister Salman Khurshid addressed a press conference accusing the BJP of being unwilling to let Parliament function and not being ready to discuss the CAG report on coal blocks allocation on the floor of the House.
Though he maintained that the briefing was not meant to confront the CAG on the issue, he asserted that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was ready with his reply on the CAG report, but it was because of the Opposition that the government was unable to speak about it in Parliament.
Slamming the Opposition, he said, "Our strategy in Parliament has been largely based around one word - patience. They should show the PM the courtesy of making a statement. I sincerely hope on Monday the Prime Minister will be allowed to make a statement."
Defending the Prime Minister, Chidambaram said he could say with authority that Singh was ready with a statement, asking the Opposition to have the courtesy to allow the Prime Minister to make a statement.
He further said that in fact the UPA tried to change the policy of allocation, which had been going on even before 2004, and it took a number of years. Chidambaram also said that there was no loss in the coal blocks allocation pointing, "If coal is not mined, where is the loss?"
Continuing the offensive, Union Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said that to not let Parliament function is a conspiracy to malign the government and tarnish the image of a few clean and honest political leaders.
Defending the Prime Minister, Jaiswal said, "We are ready to debate the CAG report…to accuse the Prime Minister in the media and outside the House is not fair."
Pointing to the probe into the alleged scam, he further said that the CBI was inquiring into the allocation of 57 coal blocks between 2006 and 2009.
Law Minister Salman Khurshid, who was also a part of the press conference, when asked why the PMO ignored the Law Ministry's advice for auction via the auction route, said that the government felt changing the law was a better idea.
However, the deadlock remained as the Opposition also refused to blink and dismissed the zero loss theory of the government and drew a parallel with the logic given by Union Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal in the case of the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
BJP chief spokesperson attacked Chidambaram over the theory saying, "It is unfortunate that the Finance Minister too is propounding the zero loss theory like Kapil Sibal."
The Opposition, which refused to budge, continued to stall Parliament and reiterated its demand for the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. They alleged that a debate would not solve any purpose and accused the government of escaping key questions raised by the CAG.
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