New Delhi, Sep 10: Launching a scathing attack on Congress over the coal controversy, JD-U today demanded immediate resignation of Union Ministers Sriprakash Jaiswal and Subodh Kant Sahay from the Cabinet and suspension of the ruling party MPs Naveen Jindal and Vijay Darda.
In the backdrop of the surfacing of letters by some BJP Chief Ministers seeking continuance of the the existing coal block allocation policy, JD-U President Sharad Yadav urged all parties to seek explanation from state heads.
“While I appeal to Congress President Sonia Gandhi to immediately suspend MPs like Jindal and Darda and direct Jaiswal and Sahay to resign from their ministries on moral grounds, I also want tell other parties that they should take action against all those who are facing similar allegations,” Yadav said.
He wondered “why Chief Ministers recommend for giving coal blocks to such persons. All this is being done in the name of the interest of the state. It is the responsibilities of the parties concerned to ask them about it”.
Asked about the irregularities highlighted by the CAG in the allotment of a coal block by the Chhattisgarh government to a company owned by the BJP's Rajya Sabha MP Ajay Sancheti, a close aide of BJP president Nitin Gadkari, Yadav merely said, “What I said incorporates everything”.
He said that it was unfortunate that instead of resigning on moral grounds after the allegations surfaced, the ministers are talking about the legal process. He also demanded the suspension of RJD leader Prem Chand Gupta over the allocations of coal block to his sons when Gupta was Corporate Affairs Minister in UPA 1 government.
“It is unfortunate that Congress has also come to this low. It was the same Congress during the Prime Ministership of Jawaharlal Nehru that two ministers Keshav Dev Malviya and T T Krishnamachari (the then Finance Minister) had resigned on basis of mere allegations,” Yadav said.
He also cited the Hawala case saying that he himself and senior BJP leader L K Advani had resigned from their posts after the allegations were levelled.
