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Communist Party of India (CPI) leader D. Raja on Saturday asked Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to own political, moral and administrative responsibility for the coal blocks allocation scam. "Prime Minister should own up political, moral and administrative responsibility for such a loot, but the Prime minister is not taking up any responsibility and government is not taking up any responsibility. That is a fact," Raja told Asian News International (ANI). The Monsoon Session of Parliament came to an end on Friday after most of its sittings were washed out over the controversial coal block allocation issue and off late on quota in SC/ST promotion in government jobs. The Monsoon Session of Parliament was adjourned sine die earlier on Friday, as the BJP-led opposition remained adamant on its demand for the Prime Minister's resignation over the coal blocks allocation issue. The coal scandal dominated the Monsoon Session of Parliament after the CAG report said that the under-priced sales of coalfields would have cost the national exchequer as much as 33 billion dollars in lost revenues. The second-worst session since the 2009 Lok Sabha elections functioned for only six out of 19 days and remained paralysed for the remaining period due to the standoff between ruling UPA Government and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party. The Prime Minister yesterday blamed the BJP for disrupting the Monsoon Session of Parliament over the coal blocks allocation issue, and described the inactivity as 'a negation of democracy'. Dr. Singh said there were important issues that needed to be discussed and resolved in Parliament. Reiterating the UPA Government's stand on the coal blocks allocation issue, Dr. Singh said his government has great respect for the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India, but retained the right to question its findings on coal block allocations, besides other issues. The BJP is demanding the resignation of Dr. Singh since he headed the Coal Ministry between 2006 and 2009, when many of the sales occurred.

Coal blocks allocation: D Raja asks PM to take political, moral responsibility