'Manmohan Singh can never do anything wrong', asserts Kapil Sibal

New Delhi, Aug 21 (ANI): Union Human Resource and Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal on Tuesday came out in full defence of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) demanded the latter's resignation over the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) report on coal block allocations.

Sibal said the Prime Minister can never do anything wrong, and termed all allegations levelled against him to be completely baseless. " We know our Prime Minister. He cannot do anything wrong," he said.

Sibal said it would be incorrect to level allegations and expect them to be accepted by the media.

"We will have to fix whose responsibility it should be. If you have levelled allegation and it is wrong, then we have to fix the responsibility for this ," said Sibal.

"What were the policies followed after 1990 ? What used to happen earlier? How were the coal blocks allocated after 1993 ? Who brought transparency? That should be investigated" he added.

Sibal further said it was Dr. Manmohan Singh, who talked about transparency in coal block allocations for the first time.

"Who talked about transparency for the first time; it is our Prime Minister. He talked about it in 2005, why didn't this take place earlier. Ask them, who were in power (earlier)," said Sibal.

"Which state governments gave their nod (for coal blocks allocation)? We didn't have our governments in Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Orissa, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh. All the chief ministers agreed that auction should not take place. This should be investigated. And then allegations should be levelled ," he added.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) earlier in the day demanded the Prime Minister's resignation, and charged the UPA Government of looting the nation.

BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said 'Coalgate' has broken all records of corruption.

"The house is adjourned today because we demanded that the Prime Minister should resign. This is the demand of the nation because people are shocked to see one after another scams in which this UPA regime is looting the country," said Javadekar.

"So, we demanded that the Prime Minister should resign because CWG was 76,000 crores, then 2G was 1,76,000 crores, now this 'Coalgate' is 1,86,000 crores and there is no defence whatsoever with the government. This is the loot, which is now in the open and so we have asked the resignation of the Prime Minister," he added.

Both Houses of Parliament were on Tuesday adjourned for the day after the BJP-led opposition stalled proceedings over the CAG report on coal block allocations and demanded the Prime Minister's resignation.

The BJP has held the Prime Minister, who then held direct charge of the Coal Ministry, responsible for what has been estimated as loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crores by the CAG in coal block allocation and demanded his resignation.

The CAG report on coal block allocation states that nearly 150 coalfields were allotted to private and state-run firms without transparency and objectivity between 2005 and 2009.

The report does not indict the Prime Minister or his office. But the BJP is emphasizing on the fact that for three of the years under scrutiny, the Prime Minister held the coal portfolio. (ANI)