'BJP doing its duty by stalling Parliament'

The BJP on Saturday defended itself over stalling the proceedings of Parliament over the coalgate scam, saying if the Congress had the mandate to run the government, the BJP as a principal opposition party had the right to be a watchdog of the country.

Addressing reporters, BJP national spokesperson Rajiv Prathap Rudy said the party would continue its protest on the issue and stall parliament, if it filled the country’s coffers. It was due to a similar protest staged by the BJP, 2G spectrum licences that were allotted at throwaway prices were cancelled.

“The Congress wants to legitimise corruption through parliamentary debate. The BJP will not accept it,” he said. He said the BJP had succeeded in setting the final agenda on the coalgate scam.

All political parties now had to take a call as to whether they were against corruption or with it. As a result, the UPA alliance partners had become jittery, he said.

Describing the CAG findings of irregularities in coal block allotments as the biggest scam ever, he said his party had decided to take the issue to the people’s court.

On Prime Minister Manmohan Singh defending himself on the issue stating that the CAG findings were baseless, Rudy alleged that the prime minister had been trying to protect himself after giving a clean chit to former telecom minister A Raja, who was allegedly involved in the 2G spectrum scam and to Suresh Kalmadi who was accused in the CWG scam.