BJP Scales Down PM Resignation Demands; Seeks Cancellation of Coal Allotments

With the Parliament impasse showing no signs of a closure, Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj on Saturday night indicated that the Opposition has softened its stand on the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and is now demanding for cancellation of allotted licenses and an independent judicial probe in the alleged Coalgate scam.  

In a tweet to the media, Swaraj disclosed a discussion with Congress President Sonia Gandhi over the Parliament deadlock. "Friends from media are asking me as to whether Mrs. Sonia Gandhi spoke to me? If yes then what transpired between us? Yes Mrs Gandhi spoke to me on phone. She wanted the parliamentary impasse to end by our agreeing to a discussion. I told her that the government should announce the cancellation of coal blocks and institute a fair and independent inquiry. Then we could have a discussion." she tweeted.

However, her tweet did not mention anything about the party's primary demand that that the Prime Minister step down. The parliament monsoon session was disrupted after the CAG report on Coalgate allotment was listed.

Advani's demand on the PM resignation was seen taking a back seat, as his blog 'Prime Minister's poor defense of coalgate' showed no signs of much activity.

"If NDA's demand that the discretionary allotment of coal already made should be scrapped and the coal blocks be auctioned is accepted and implemented, the truth would surface as to what is really the fair price presently."He posted on his blog about the controversial issue, leaving out any mention of the resignation of the PM.

However, BJP leader Arun Jaitley has cleared that the party is still seeking to see Manmohan Singh out from office, holding him directly accountable for his role in the coal block allocation scam.

While addressing the gathering of BJP workers on Sunday, he said, "Many political parties feel that all the coal allocations should be cancelled. PM should take sole responsibility of this scam and should resign because he was the then coal minister. We will stick on our demand".