Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's addressing of the Comptroller Auditor General of India, or CAG, report on allocation of coal blocks has not gone down well with the main ppposition, the Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP.
The leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley convened a press conference on Monday, with a core intention of criticizing Singh's statement, calling it "an assault on Constitutional authorities."
Besides rapping the prime minister, the BJP leaders also demanded the cancellation of the allotted coal blocks and the carrying out of fresh reallocations by putting them on competitive bidding, which was also recommended by the CAG in its audit report. Meanwhile, they reiterated their demands for the resignation of the incumbent prime minister.
The BJP leaders also demanded a Special Investigation Team probe into the Coalgate issue, which is already being probed by Central Bureau of Investigation as said by the prime minister.
The Congress and prime minister's appeal to the opposition parties have virtually failed to tame them. BJP leaders showed no sign of settling down in their seats to allow an undisrupted functioning on the floors of the House.
BJP leaders continued to firmly stick to their demands that Manmohan Singh should quit on moral grounds, given that he headed the coal ministry when the alleged lapses in the coal block allocation took place.
"The whole process of allocation of coal blocks stinks. This raises a larger question of how the Indian State should allocate natural resources," Arun Jaitley said earlier in a statement.
"The Prime Minister's office is a sacred institution in Indian democracy. It has to be judged by standards much harsher than those which would apply to Ministers like A Raja," he added.
Justifying the BJP's way of stalling the Parliamentary proceeding to persuade the government to give into their demands, he said: "Suggestions that the issue should be debated only in the Parliament will put a lid on one of the greatest scandals in Indian history. We, in the Opposition, are not interested in merely the issue being talked out through a one-day debate in Parliament."
"A debate is an essential ingredient of Parliament but so is accountability. If a debate is being used today to put a lid on accountability then an alternative strategy is necessary. Parliamentary obstructionism should ordinarily be avoided. However, in the rarest of rare cases, obstructionism also bring its dividends. The country lost a valuable session of parliament in December 2010 on the issue of 2G spectrum scam," said the Opposition leader in Rajya Sabha.
Jaitley even gave an example of A Raja, saying that the 2G scam accused former telecom minister was asked to resign and a charge-sheet was lodged against him owing to the obstructionism.
However, the Congress is not ready to compromise on Manmohan Singh giving into the oppositional pressure. The government opposition stand-off has increased the likelihood of a complete washout of the Monsoon session, adding to the woes of country's already prevailing policy paralyses.
As many as 100 key bills are lying in the Parliament as they face the uncertainty of getting approved by the Parliamentarians.
