The BJP on Saturday accused the Congress-led UPA government of “pressuring the CBI to save Prime Minister Manmohan Singh” and demanded a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into the irregularities in the coal block allocations.
The party also called the UPA government a “rogue government”.
Reacting to a media report that the “UPA government had vetted the coal blocks allocations probe status report” before it was submitted to the Supreme Court, Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, said “this was a very serious matter”.
“This is evidence of the Government’s pressure on the CBI to save the Prime Minister,” said Swaraj on Twitter.
Swaraj’s counterpart in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, said the government “would not allow the CBI to carry out its work with honesty”. He also called the central government a “rogue”.
“The CBI’s image of an independent agency is now completely demolished and dismantled. The CBI cannot go to the root of the matter and find the truth, and even if some honest officer tries to find the truth, the UPA is a rogue government which will not allow it to act independently,” he said.
“Therefore the system will have to seriously consider whether a SIT must take over the administration and investigation of coal scam,” he added.
“The coal scam clearly shows that allocation of coal was tainted, and it was a case of nepotism. Power plants of the country are starved of coal, but, on the other hand, favourites of this government were allocated coal mines, and actual mining has not begun,” he said.
“Persons named in the report should publicly speak whether this is true or otherwise. The original unaltered report of the CBI must be made public and also placed before the Supreme Court,” he added.
The CBI on Saturday said it is “yet to submit” its affidavit to the Supreme Court on the question whether the report was diluted or overseen by the Executive.