New Delhi/Hyderabad, Oct. 16 (ANI): Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday criticised the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) enquiry on the Coal Scam, and alleged that it was an unfair investigation since neither the Prime Minister nor the Prime Minister's Office was taken into questioning to take the examination of the case forward.
"The BJP would like to have a fair investigation, not an unfair investigation. Any fair investigation would demand the role of the PMO (Prime Minister's Office) and the Prime Minister in the allocation of all these coal blocks in a hurry needs to be investigated because, for most of the time, the whole coal scam happened when Dr. Manmohan Singh was also the Coal Minister. Therefore, if a whistleblower officer is not to be made an accused, let there be a fair investigation there as well," Prasad said.
"But, how can the Prime Minister escape his own accountability? In the 2G Scam there was no investigation into the role of the PMO or the Prime Minister. The same is happening in the Coal Gate; the files were found to get lost earlier. There was a national furore against that. Therefore, our view is very clear, have a fair investigation. It would be a fair investigation, only and only when there is an investigation into the role of the Prime Minister and the PMO," he added.
Former Coal Secretary P.C. Parakh said earlier today that if the CBI considers that there is a conspiracy in this case, then the Prime Minister should be held equally responsible, as he was the final decision maker.
Parakh, who has been named in the latest chargesheet filed by the CBI along with industrialist Kumarmangalam Birla and his company, said there is absolutely nothing wrong in the decision.
"So, to my mind I don't know why the CBI has thought that there is a controversy. But, if it is a conspiracy, then there are different members to this conspiracy. Mr. Birla, who made a representation, is one conspirant; I who examined the case and made a recommendation, I can be another conspirant; and the Prime Minister as coal minister, who took the decision, is the third conspirant. So, if CBI thinks that there is a conspiracy, then why did they chose and select Mr. Birla and me and why not the PM?" asked Parakh.
"If there is a conspiracy, then, we all three are conspirants, and he is the final decision maker," he added, while talking to ANI in Hyderabad.
The 1969-batch IAS officer of Andhra Pradesh cadre, who was appointed Union Coal Secretary in March 2004 and remained in that post till he retired in December 2005, said it is for the CBI to answer as to why they have included him in the FIR.
The CBI yesterday filed FIRs against Kumarmangalam Birla and Parakh for alleged irregularities and criminal conspiracy in allocation of two coal blocks in Orissa in 2005.
The CBI, which has now filed 14 FIRs in this case, carried out coordinated searches at offices of the Aditya Birla group in Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad and Bhubaneswar yesterday.
The BJP has held the Prime Minister responsible and demanded his resignation for an estimated loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crores to the national exchequer by the CAG in connection with the coal block allocation.
The CAG report does not indict the Prime Minister or his office, but the BJP is emphasizing that the Prime Minister held direct charge of the coal ministry for the years under scrutiny. (ANI)
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