TNI Bureau: Union Minister of State in the PMO, V Narayanasamy took on BJP over coal blocks allocation holding the main opposition responsible for disrupting the proceedings of Parliament that ended with no work.
Addressing a press conference at Congress Bhavan in Bhubaneswar today, the Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Narayanasamy defended the UPA government on Coalgate saying the guidelines for the coal blocks allocation were made in a transparent manner.
The CAG report on Coalgate, which rocked the parliament during the monsoon session, has never said the allocation was a scam, he said. It is the BJP, has been sarcastic about the CAG. Normally, the ruling government never wants to have a debate on any issue in the House, but the UPA invited all the parties to discuss the issue, but the opposition continued stalling the parliament.
He said that Congress alliances and all major political parties wanted a debate on the issue except BJP and JDU. He asked why the BJP is running away from the discussion.
The demand for resignation of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is unjustified as he has submitted a statement saying he is ready to discuss the issue. Before asking for resignation of the PM, the chief ministers of the BJP-ruling states should resign, he said.
Support Independent Journalism? Keep us live.
The Congress leader slammed the opposition for destabilizing the government saying the party could not come to power in 2004 and 2009, so trying to disturb the government as they cannot wait for 2014 elections.
Defending the charges by the opposition, he said that the coal blocks allocation was done by the recommendation of the screening committee, which also consists of officials from the states. Presenting some key details of the allocation, he said that the BJP is now blaming the UPA for the scam, but it is not asking the CMs of its states why they recommended the allocation. He said that the Central government cannot go for allocation without the support of state government.
He alleged that Naveen Patnaik government had recommended in favour of Jindal, while hundreds of people wanted the allocation.
Justifying the allocation, he said that the coal blocks were given for the purpose of power production. But Odisha along with other BJP-ruling states had opposed it. He also said that BJP is opposing the CBI probe into the matter as action is inconvenient to the party.
However, Narayanasamy’s chief purpose of visiting to Odisha remained unclear. Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, who is in charge of the state, was present along with OPCC chief Niranjan Patnaik at the press conference, which was held amidst the growing demand for arrest of Tytler over his alleged provocative speech against the CM Naveen Patnaik at the Congress rally on September 6. Even the leaders came a day before the scheduled date of their Odisha visit.