Prime Minister Manmohan Singh speaks on missing coal files in Parliament (File pic)
After a report that an officer investigating the coal allocation scam suggested that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should be questioned, the BJP today said in Parliament that the PM should volunteer himself for CBI questioning.
Sources in Dr Manmohan Singh's Office said this morning that while they cannot comment on the accuracy of the report, Dr Singh has assured Parliament that the government would "fully cooperate with the CBI" and is committed to a fair and thorough probe.
The BJP, however, again targeted the Prime Minister in Parliament over the coal probe, and the missing files demanded by the CBI.
Leader of Opposition Sushma Swaraj said: "Was an FIR lodged? This is not a case of missing files but that of files being stolen. We demand that an FIR be lodged immediately. The government must tell us by what time they will lodge an FIR. Otherwise, their intent comes into question."
The BJP leader referred to the report in The Indian Express that said an investigating officer with the CBI, KR Chaurasia, documented the "requirement " to question the Prime Minister, but that the agency's top man, Director Ranjit Sinha, later said that's unnecessary at this stage.
"The PM should volunteer himself for CBI questioning so that the truth comes out," said Sushma Swaraj."
In Parliament yesterday, Dr Singh, who had earlier defiantly said that he is "not the custodian of files", ceded to pressure from the opposition to make a statement on the missing files. He said, "at this stage, it would be premature to say that files are missing or that there is something fishy."
He stressed "the government has nothing to hide" and is working to track down the documents in question.
The CBI's investigation into why coal fields were given to private players without a transparent bidding process, allegedly costing the country thousands of crores, has added to the perception of a government whose operations are marked by ineptitude, corruption, or both.
The CBI has said that mining rights were assigned opaquely and with no effort to check the background of firms who landed coal licenses, some of them linked to Congress leaders.