Amid reports of alleged interference in the CBI probe into the coal scam, BJP leader Arun Jaitley today demanded constitution of a special investigation team, besides accusing the UPA of being a “rogue government” that will not allow CBI to function independently.
The Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha also charged the Government with “interference in the administration of justice” by not allowing CBI to acquaint the apex court with the full truth.
“The CBI cannot find out the truth and even if some honest officer in the CBI tries to find out the truth, the UPA is a rogue government which will not allow it to operate independently,” Jaitley told reporters here.
His Lok Sabha counterpart, Sushma Swaraj, criticised the government for “vetting” of the CBI report and said it is part of “an attempt to save Prime Minister Manmohan Singh“.
“This is a very serious matter. This is evidence of the government’s pressure on the CBI to save the prime minister,” Swaraj said on Twitter.
Jaitley said the UPA is interested in “diluting the guilt of the culprits” and does not want the truth to come out.
“When Ministers, civil servants and officials try that the Supreme Court should not be acquainted with the full truth. This is an interference in the administration of justice. The government owes an explanation,” the BJP leader said, while demanding that the CBI’s original unaltered report be made public besides being placed before the Supreme Court.
He said the scam shows that the allocation of coal blocks were a “tainted” one and “a case of nepotism”, as the favourites of the government were allocated coal mines even when power plants in the country are starved of coal.
“These facts now conclusively show that the CBI will not be honestly allowed to investigate this case and therefore, the system will have to seriously consider whether an SIT must take over the administration and investigation of the coal scam. The coal scam should be handed over to a SIT instead for the truth to come,” Jaitley said.