By IANS,
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday sought an explanation from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on an alleged coal mining scam purported to have cost the exchequer over Rs.10 lakh crore.
Talking to reporters after parliament lost its question hour to protests over the alleged scam, BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu said Manmohan Singh should clarify as he headed the coal ministry at the time of the scam.
“It is his moral responsibility,” Naidu said here.
According to a newspaper report, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has accused the government of having given undue benefits to many coal companies, leading to a loss of Rs.10.67 lakh crore to the exchequer in 2004-09.
Naidu said no other minister’s explanation will suffice.
Another BJP leader, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, held Congress president Sonia Gandhi responsible for the scam.
Party leader Prakash Javadekar, who had given the notice for suspending question hour to debate the alleged scam, described it as the “mother of all scams”.
“This is the mother of all scams and this government is the government of looters,” Javadekar told reporters.
He sought a CBI probe under the supervision of Supreme Court into the scandal.