New Delhi: Hitting back at BJP for criticising the Prime Minister for making a statement in Parliament on CAG report on coal block allocation issue, the government on Monday said the main opposition party is "confused" and seems "intellectually dishonest."
"If the CAG report cannot be discussed, the Prime Minister cannot make a statement, then what`s going on for the last so many days... Sadly, the BJP is showing confusion of its mind and also beginning to look intellectually dishonest," Law Minister Salman Khurshid told reporters outside Parliament House.
Attacking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for making a statement in Lok Sabha when the CAG report is with Parliament`s Public Accounts Committee, BJP said it will continue to demand his resignation and boycott the "corrupt" government in Parliament.
Power Minister M Veerappa Moily said people will judge the actions of BJP "appropriately."
"People will not tolerate such things. House has to run. Nobody can sabotage the functioning of Parliament. It is very unfortunate. They (opposition) will go down in history for obstructing Parliament," he said.
Khurshid said BJP was doing "an unreasonable thing and they are only speaking of an unreasonable thing". The main opposition party`s demands will not be acceptable to "any reasonable and objective person," he said.
Asked about the government`s strategy, Khurshid said, "At present, we are only ensuring that the correct information is disseminated as widely as possible and obviously there is a constraint on us because Parliament is still in session."
On whether there is any possiblility that Lok Sabha will adjourn sine die, he said the government is making efforts that the House functions. The opposition has equal responsibility along with the government for conduct of Parliament proceedings, he said.
"The government is doing its best....We cannot compromise either our principles or Parliamentary procedure," Khurshid said.
Minister of State for Planning Ashwini Kumar said the Prime Minister`s statement has come as a "clincher" as far as the truth on the issue coal block allocation is concerned.
"The statement emphasises the fact that the conclusions, observations and assumptions in the CAG report are flawed and highly disputable. Until the PAC validates the CAG report, the report in itself is never actionable," he said.
"The statement of the PM contains accurate facts and these facts read together have completely demolished the allegations and charges against the UPA government," he said.
Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam said if the leaders start resigning over CAG reports, then Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar should resign first as the AGs (Accountants General) have made charges of misappropriation of funds to the tune of crores against their governments.
"The opposition demand for the PM`s resignation is, therefore, devoid of logic," he said.
DP Tripathi of NCP felt BJP is "not gaining anything" by stalling Parliament.
"The role of the opposition is to corner the government...BJP should allow the House to run and then corner the government," he said.
PTI
PTI
