The “Third Front”, consisting of the Left parties, SP, AIADMK, TDP and the BJD, has decided to hold a sit-in at the premises of Parliament on Friday demanding a judicial probe into the coal scam.
The parties will also demand that the ongoing disruptions of the proceedings should end and the House should debate the statement made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue.
SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and the CPI (M) leaders Sitaram Yechury and Basudeb Acharya, held meetings with leaders of various parties to organise the protest. Yadav said the parties are demanding that a sitting Supreme Court judge probe the coal scam.
The Left parties have been maintaining that the Congress and the BJP have “shared the loot” of the coal scam.
Acharya said his party is trying to unite non-NDA, non-UPA parties. He said both the BJP and the Congress are trying to scuttle a debate in Parliament on the issue.
Supporting the demand for a high-level probe, Yechury said the probe should be time-bound and should bring those who are responsible for the loss before the public.
BJP’s hypocrisy
CPI (M) General Secretary Prakash Karat said in an article in his party’s mouthpiece that the BJP’s “hypocrisy” in disrupting Parliament demanding the Prime Minister’s resignation was “breathtaking.”
He said it was the BJP that had pioneered the captive coal block route. “It had brought the coal privatisation Bill in Parliament,” he said.
Karat said competitive bidding would be better than the present system to eliminate corrupt practices and favouritism. He said CPI (M) is resolutely opposed to the privatisation of coal sector.
He justified the coal-bearing States’ stand that their interests of industrial development and energy needs can be met only if the they have a say in the allocation of coal blocks.
He said the West Bengal’s erstwhile Left Front Government’s reservations on going for an “outright competitive bidding route” has been distorted by media.