India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned within minutes till noon on Tuesday, as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led opposition created ruckus and demanded Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's resignation over the Comptroller and Auditor General's (CAG) report on coal block allocations. BJP leaders including Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley met at senior leader L.K. Advani's residence here on Monday evening to firm up the party's strategy to pin down the government on the basis of the CAG report. "Our leaders in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, had sought resignation of Prime Minister on Friday (August 17) in the light of coal scam. We are going to raise this issue in Parliament in a big way tomorrow," senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad told mediapersons after the meeting yesterday. The BJP has held the Prime Minister responsible for what has been estimated as loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crores by the CAG in coal block allocation and demanded his resignation. The CAG report on coal block allocation states that nearly 150 coalfields were allotted to private and state-run firms without transparency and objectivity between 2005 and 2009. The report does not indict the Prime Minister or his office, but the BJP is emphasizing on the fact that for three of the years under scrutiny, the Prime Minister held direct charge of the Coal Ministry.

Parliament adjourned till noon as BJP demands PM's resignation over Coalgate