By IANS,
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Monday attacked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accusing him of being involved in corruption, and termed the president’s address as a “farewell speech” by the government.
BJP leader Prakash Javadekar said there was a huge scam in allocation of coal blocks in the country and held the prime minister responsible as he headed the coal ministry during that time.
“The government has looted the country in the last nine years… I will mention two more scams that are related to the prime minister and occurred between 2006 and 2009,” Javadekar said.
“In these three years, there has been a huge scam in allocation of coal mines,” he said adding that the volume of the scam is likely to be much more than the 2G spectrum allocation case.
“Coal reserves worth Rs.51 lakh crore were given to 143 private companies at throw away prices… the prime minister cannot say he is not aware because he himself was the coal minister.”
He also pointed the finger at the prime minister for the Antrix-Devas deal, which has since been scrapped.
“Scientists are being punished for PMO’s (prime minister’s office) ignorance,” he said.
Another BJP member Chandan Mitra dubbed it as the “farewell speech” of the government.
“It (president’s address) sounds more like the summary of what government has done so far, like a farewell speech,” BJP leader Chandan Mitra said, participating in the debate in the Rajya Sabha on the motion of thanks on the president’s address to both houses of parliament.
He also expressed hope that like Lok Sabha, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will also address the upper house and clear the air over NCTC.
Initiating the debate earlier, BJP leader Prakash Javadekar blamed the government for “allowing a loot in the country”, saying that many more scams would be uncovered in course of time.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury hit out at the government for “attacking federalism” over the National Counter Terrorism Centre.
“Federalism is the crux of Indian constitution ,” he said, adding that the NCTC takes away state’s rights.
He also criticised the government’s economic policies, stating that the government was giving tax concessions to the rich and calling the subsidies to poor a “burden”.
“Concessions to rich is considered incentive and subsidy to poor is called burden on economy,” he added.