'Govt can impeach CAG if it thinks coal scam report is wrong'

Stating that it was wrong for the UPA government to challenge CAG report on coal allocation issue, BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi today said the government could impeach the auditor if it believed the report was not correct and he had overstepped his brief.

"Just criticising the CAG and saying he had overstepped his brief has no meaning...it can impeach CAG as the Constitution provides for impeachment of a CAG," Joshi told PTI here.

Joshi, who is chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, also said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had set a wrong precedent by stating that the CAG report would be challenged.
Joshi said the job of the CAG was not to frame a policy but to see the manner in which it was implemented.

The senior BJP leader said the present UPA government at the Centre had failed on a number of counts and it would be erroneous on its part to believe that the people would not punish it for its lapses.

He said natural resources of a country were not the property of any government. They belong to the people and the government has no right to deal with it as per its whims.

CAG, in its report submitted recently, had estimated that private companies which were allotted coal blocks would make a "windfall gain" of over Rs 1.85 lakh crore. The government, however, has rejected the finding of the report.

Meanwhile, Joshi today blamed the Congress-led UPA for inflation in the country and alleged that the government was unaware of its reasons.

"As far as inflation is concerned, it is because of government's wrong steps. They do not know where the price rise is and why it is persisting.

"Our Reserve Bank Governor says inflation will go up. Finance minister says we need to live with it while the Prime Minister says that inflation is a big challenge. But why there is an inflation, they do not tell the reason," the senior BJP leader told reporters on the sidelines of an International Buddhist conference here.

Referring to former Union Minister Arun Shourie's views on FDI and hike in the diesel prices, Joshi said, "It is his (Shourie's) personal views and not of party."

Shourie had yesterday defended Rs five hike in diesel by the Central government and FDI stating that it will not affect people much and will not benefit corporates in a big way.

Opposing FDI in retail, Joshi said, "I do not support FDI in multi-brand retail specially in those areas which affect our farmers, unemployed people and small traders directly."

The country witnessed a bumper foodgrain production and there are enough fruits and vegetables, he said.

"I think inflation is due to the anti-people and wrong policies of the government," Joshi said.

When asked about protest by a person in New Delhi's Vigyan Bhawan yesterday, he said though there are better ways to agitate, people resort to such acts when they are compelled by the circumstances.

Referring to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's comment saying money does not grow on trees, Joshi said, "I don't want to comment on each and every thing said by the Prime Minister."

However, in a lighter vein Joshi added, "He (PM) might have tried to grow money on trees but did not succeed."

When asked whether in the current political scenario which grouping -- NDA or Third Front -- has a better future, Joshi said, "The people of the nation have a future in current political scenario."