JOIN USTaking on the Congress and Opposition BJP over the coal-scam, erstwhile Team Anna member Arvind Kejriwal alleged a collusion of the duo in the scam and decided to gherao the houses of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and BJP President Nitin Gadkari on August 26.
Kejriwal while announcing the programme, said a peaceful protest would take place at Jantar Mantar from 10 am onwards followed by the gherao to protest to demand immediate cancellation of coal block allocation and setting up of an independent Special Investigation Team (SIT).
“Both the major parties --BJP and the Congress have been closely involved in this Rs 1.86 lakh coal scam, considered to be one of the major scams till date. Along with the BJP and the Congress, CPM and BJD have also played a major role in the plunder of this natural resource,” said the India Against Corruption (IAC) leader.
The IAC alleged that if the prime minister, who was also taking care of the coal portfolio, is responsible for giving away coal blocks to private companies at a throw away prices, heads of various state governments including former Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhra Raje Scindia (BJP), Chattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh (BJP), Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik (BJD) and former West Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharya (CPM) are guilty of writing to Central government advising them against the bidding process.
Kejriwal also alleged that now when the scam has come to the fore, the Congress and the BJP have colluded to stall the proceedings of the both the Houses.
He said that the BJP kept on demanding the resignation of the prime minister knowing that it was not to happen.
If the Opposition was really worried about the scam it would have asked for an open debate in the Parliament instead of focusing on resignation.
“The resignation of the prime minister in no way would lead to unearthing the depth of the coalgate, but an independent investigation certainly would,” he asserted.
“If the Supreme Court had recently cancelled licenses of private players in 2G spectrum scam, why the licenses of coal blocks can’t be cancelled?” he said.