By IANS,
New Delhi : Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad Friday defended Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the wake of CAG report on allocation of coal blocks, but said he could only give a detailed reaction after reading the document.
Talking to media persons, Lalu Prasad said he has not seen the Comptroller and Auditor General report on allocation of coal blocks but sought to put the blame on officers.
“Study is necessary to see what happened…it has to be seen which officer was kept,” he said.
Asked about the role of prime minister who was in charge of coal ministry for a few years, the RJD chief said: “Prime minister has several portfolios with him.”
The CAG report said the exchequer could have earned Rs.1.85 lakh crore ($37 billion) more if a competitive bidding process was followed in the award of coal blocks to private and government players.
The CAG report, tabled in parliament, said the losses occurred because the process of bringing transparency in the award of coal blocks, which was to commence in June 2004, got delayed due to various reasons.