BJP to raise coal issue in Parliament

The issue of vetting of CBI report on coal scam will be raised in Parliament by BJP which dubbed government as "rogue" and said it is not allowing the investigating agency to function independently.

New Delhi: The issue of alleged vetting of a CBI report on coal scam is set to be raised in Parliament by BJP which on Saturday dubbed the government as "rogue" and alleged it is not allowing the investigating agency to function independently. "This is a big issue which would be raised in the coming session of Parliament," said Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj.

Parliament will meet on April 22 after a month-long recess. "Coal block allocation scam was more important unlike CWG and 2G scams, in which Prime Minister was indirectly responsible. But in coal scam, the Prime Minister was in-charge of the Ministry," Swaraj said while addressing Delhi BJP workers` conference here. She said the scam was directly linked to Congress, "as even the Minister of State of this (Coal) Ministry was from Congress and the Cabinet Minister was the Prime Minister himself." Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley accused UPA of being a "rogue government" which does not allow CBI to function independently and demanded constitution of a special investigation team. He also charged the government with "interference in the administration of justice" by not allowing CBI to acquaint the apex court with the full truth. Swaraj alleged Congress had held its allies responsible for other scams, like Raja was held responsible for 2G spectrum scam, Praful Patel for buying of planes for Air India and Sharad Pawar for inflation. "So, they can`t take this risk of submitting the CBI report to the Supreme Court. The CBI report was submitted only after Law Minister saw it and toned it down," she said. The BJP Leader termed it as a "very serious matter" and said it is also a proof that government had changed the report in order to save the Prime Minister. PTI