New Delhi: Dismissing any comparison between coal block allocation issue and Bofors pay-offs controversy, Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Monday said "2012 is not 1989".
"2012 is not 1989. Do not draw such comparisons", Chidambaram said at the AICC media briefing when asked whether the Opposition was trying to re-enact a Bofors-like scenario.
The opposition had resigned en masse in 1989 following CAG report on the Bofors issue ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Chidambaram said the chief prosecutor in the Bofors case had finally said Rajiv Gandhi was not at all involved in it. "It was a complete rebuff to the stance taken by the Opposition in Parliament."
Though BJP has not spoken or indicated of its intention to go in for mass resignation from the Lok Sabha to force early election, it has threatened to launch a nationwide "Bofors-like campaign" once the monsoon session of Parliament is over.
Speaking to reporters last week, BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain had said this time his party will put up a fight against Congress which will be "more fierce" than the one seen during the Bofors scam.
PTI
First Published: Monday, September 03, 2012, 23:05