New Delhi: There seems to be little
chance of Parliament being allowed to function for the sixth day in a
row on Tuesday as the deadlock between the Congress and BJP over the CAG
report on coal escalates. The government has said no to a trust vote
claiming that it enjoys the support of Parliament even as the BJP is
adamant that the Prime Minister should resign taking moral
responsibility.
A day after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh strongly defended
himself and dismissed the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) allegations as
motivated, Congress President Sonia Gandhi will address her party MPs at
the Congress Parliamentary Party meeting on Tuesday.
Sources say Sonia is expected to take on the Opposition and
accuse it of running an organised campaign against her party and the
government. With both sides sticking to their stands, it looks like the
Monsoon Session is heading for a washout.
Parliament saw a repeat of last week on Monday with no work and
only chaos. The Prime Minister did come up with a reply but his answer
got lost in the din in Parliament. He was not allowed to complete his
statement and was forced to lay down the papers in both the Houses. This
marks a new low for Parliament when the Opposition did not allow the
Prime Minister of the country to speak and was perhaps the first time
that he was forced to lay his statement as the Opposition MPs continued
to demand his resignation. He came out of Parliament and made a
statement calling the CAG report disputable.
He also claimed that the policy of allocation existed since 1993
and was followed by the earlier governments, adding that the UPA had
introduced the auction idea in 2004.
The Prime Minister also hit out at the main Opposition party, the
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), for disrupting Parliament. Reacting to
the attack by the Prime Minister, the BJP termed his statement as an
excuse.
The BJP came out all guns blazing and said it had no faith in the Prime Minister or the UPa government.
Rejecting the Prime Minister's statement on the issue of
coalgate, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday took a tough stand
against the government demanding Manmohan Singh's resignation and
cancellation of all 142 coal blocks allocated during the UPA rule.
The principle Opposition also hit out at the government that
despite losing revenues, Congress earned massive profits from the coal
allotments. The BJP said that the Congress profited from the coal blocks
allocation and not the country. " Congress got 'mota maal' (heavy
profit) from coal blocks," the party said.
"The PM's address has not weakened our case, but has made it
stronger. Our charge is that the competitive bidding policy of 2004 was
not implemented for the past eight years," said the Leader of Opposition
in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj.
"I believe that coal revenue has not gone to the government but
to the Congress party. If there is an independent inquiry into coal
allocation, the Congress party will be as guilty as the government," she
said while addressing a press conference.
Meanwhile, as the crisis at home continues to stew, the Prime
Minister will heading to Tehran on Tuesday to attend the 16th
Non-Aligned Movement Summit. He is scheduled to meet many world leaders
there including Pakistan's President Zardari and Iran's Ahmedinejad.
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