'PM's offer to depose before CBI meaningless'

The prime minister’s offer to appear before the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in coalgate probe is “meaningless” as the investigating agency is under him and also because he had rejected a demand to face a parliamentary committee on 2G scam, the BJP said on Saturday.

The BJP said the CBI, which is investigating the coal allocation scam, comes under the prime minister’s office (PMO) and therefore, he should first resign from the august post.

“The only option before him is to quit and appear before the CBI. The issue is that the country’s prime minister is under suspicion. If the CBI questions the country’s prime minister, what signals would it send? That is why we have said that the prime minister should resign and (then) appear before the CBI,” BJP leader Yashwant Sinha told reporters.

On his way back from Beijing, after completing his visit to two nations, the prime minister, who was also the coal minister during the UPA-I regime, said on Thursday that he had nothing to hide in the coal block allocation and offered to face the CBI or anybody probing the alleged favour in awarding the contract to Kumar Mangalam Birla’s Hindalco. 

PM refused to appear

The BJP recalled that despite the demand that he should come before the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) probing the 2G scam, the prime minister did not appear and had instead offered to see parliamentary watchdog Public Accounts Committee, which does not have power to summon him.

BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar raised doubts on the CBI probe in the Hindalco case as the agency comes under the prime minister.