BJP will continue to press for PM’s resignation in Parliament

PTI

New Delhi, 25 Aug 2012: Rubbishing the no loss argument of the government in the coal block allocations, BJP today made it clear that it is in no mood to allow Parliament to function till its demand for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s resignation is met.

 

"A nation wide debate is on on this issue though it is not taking place in Parliament. Our strategy does not permit that we allow the government to use Parliament to end this debate without any accountability. We want the debate to go on further," Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley told reporters here.

 

"There are occasions when obstruction in Parliament brings greater benefit to the country," he said.

 

Jaitley dismissed Chidambaram’s assertion yesterday that there cannot be a loss in the coal block allocations as no mining was done in many cases.

 

"Kapil Sibal had propounded the zero loss theory in the 2G spectrum case... It was a bitter experience for him. He had to eat his words... Finance Minister P Chidambaram has not learnt lessons from Sibal’s bitter experience and has tried to take it further," he said.

 

BJP insisted that once the coal blocks were allocated, the valuations of these 142 blocks in the market sky-rocketed.

 

"Once the coal blocks are alloted to private parties, the right to mine lies with the allotees and not with the Government of India. Even without actual mining the government has lost control over these mines," Jaitley said.

 

He maintained that there was a "huge opportunity cost" which the government has lost and termed Chidambaram’s no loss theory as "preposterous".