New Delhi:
The BJP today launched a direct attack at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the missing files related to the coal allocation scam, blocking the government's bid to push its landmark Food Security Bill to coincide with the 69th birth anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi.
The Food Bill will now be taken up on Thursday. (
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The BJP said it would not let Parliament run until Prime Minister Manmohan Singh explained how crucial files connected to the illegal allocation of coal blocks to private companies went missing.
But the government has ruled out any statement by the PM.
"I assure the house that my ministry will leave no stone unturned to find the files," Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal said in the Rajya Sabha. He told the house that an interministerial group would now track the files.
Attacked over missing files linked to his own relatives allegedly involved in the illegal allocations, Mr Jaiswal said he "would accept any punishment if proved guilty."
"Files don't disappear, they are made to disappear," Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley countered. "This is destruction of evidence, has your ministry filed a police complaint?"
In both houses, the Opposition kept up its relentless campaign for answers from the Prime Minister, who was in charge of the coal ministry for some of the years under scrutiny.
"It is only logical that the minister 'then in charge' should clarify in the house. The missing files relate to a certain period," said CPI-M MP Sitaram Yechury.
60 files are missing, of which 16 have been sought urgently by the CBI. The documents that cannot be traced reportedly explain the allocation process for 50 coal blocks.
"The PM should come to the house and explain how and where the files went missing, every missing file names Congress ministers, we expect a statement from the PM himself," said Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Sushma Swaraj, amid slogans of "PM must answer" from the opposition benches.