New Delhi: Congress on Saturday launched a fresh offensive on Coalgate row with Union Ministers Kapil Sibal, M Veerappa Moily and Ghulam Nabi Azad taking on the BJP which has vowed to take its fight to the streets after not allowing Parliament to function.
Addressing the media in Lucknow, Sibal said that the opposition party should ask its Chief Ministers to resign since the state governments decide who gets the mining lease.
His comments came two days after the Centre made public letters written to it by BJP and other non-Congress state chief ministers strongly opposing auction of coal mines.
The Congress` week-long offensive in the states has come in the wake of the near-total washout of the Monsoon session over the coal controversy.
The decision to go the states between September 8-15 was taken at a meeting of AICC General Secretaries convened by senior Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi last Saturday as the Government faced a mounting criticism by the Oppostion with repeated adjournments of Parliament in the Monsoon session that came to an end on Friday.
According to the strategy, a senior minister of the government, concerned AICC in-charge of the state and the PCC chief will be jointly addressing the media in respective states.
As per the plans, Home Minister P Chidambaram will go to Maharasthra, Jairam Ramesh to Jharkhand, Commerce Minister Anand Sharma to Chhattisgarh, Salman Khurshid to Madhya Pradesh, V Narayanasamy to Orissa and Jyotiraditya Scindia to Bihar.
PTI
