'PM has been exposed as mastermind of corruption', alleges BJP

New Delhi, Aug 23 (ANI): The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday alleged that the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, has been exposed as mastermind of corruption.

"The Prime Minister claims he is very honest and the rest of the people could be dishonest. I think the Prime Minister has been exposed, as mastermind of corruption, and this is government of scams. The country is suffering as one scam after another is being exposed," said BJP spokesperson Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi.

Janata Dal-United (JD-U) leader Shivanand Tiwari urged the government to take some concrete action over the CAG report to end the impasse.

"Discussions will take place because it (CAG report) is Parliament. The government must take some concrete action on it, then only impasse would end," he said.

The standoff between the opposition and government over the CAG report on coal block allocation resulted in no work being held in the Parliament for the third consecutive day, as the BJP was unrelenting in its demand for the Prime Minister's resignation.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi has claimed that the Parliament's Public Accounts Committee (PAC) had found in the past that 90 percent of the charges levelled by the CAG were incorrect.

"Once the report of PAC is submitted in Parliament, then only we would be in a position to tell whether charges levelled in it are true or false. Every year the CAG reports contain charges and very few know that 90 percent of these charges every year are rejected because they are wrong," said Chaturvedi.

Parliamentary Affairs Minister Rajiv Shukla downplayed the opposition's ploy to resign from Parliament committees.

"We cannot stop if somebody wants to resign. We believe that they should not resign. If they want to resign from the Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha or any other committee, that is their decision. I cannot advise them," said Shukla.

The BJP has held the Prime Minister, who then held direct charge of the Coal Ministry, responsible for what has been a notional 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)