File photo: BJP leaders LK Advani, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley talk to President Pranab Mukherjee
At a dinner meeting on Tuesday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged top BJP leaders Arun Jaitley, Sushma Swaraj and LK Advani to allow Parliament to function so that important legislation can be cleared before the session ends on Friday, sources said. Dr Singh reportedly assured them that his government too wants a thorough probe into "Coal-gate", which has led to a standoff in Parliament.
But he advised caution in debating the matter since it is sub-judice.
The BJP leaders reportedly gave Dr Singh no assurance that they would let Parliament run and conveyed to him that they would decide on this after internal consultation on Wednesday.
The opposition party has attacked the Prime Minister over important documents related to coal field allocations to private firms that are missing. The BJP says some of the missing records relate to mining licenses issued when the Prime Minister held direct charge of the Coal Ministry.
The Prime Minister made a statement on Tuesday in Parliament, saying, "At this stage, it would be premature to say that files are missing." He said it's incorrect to conclude that there is "something fishy". "The government has nothing to hide" and is working to track down the documents, he said. (
Read PM's statement)
The CBI, which is investigating "Coal-gate", has alleged that mining licenses were assigned opaquely, without a bidding process, allegedly at a cost of thousands of crores to the country. It also says there are inadequate records to explain how some firms, including a couple linked to Congress leaders, managed to get mining rights.
Sources in the BJP say that Tuesday's meeting at the PM's residence may not change the party's strategy to intensify its campaign against the government over the coal scandal. In the last few days, it has helped the government pass key bills on food security and land acquisition, expected to be big vote-getters in the upcoming elections.