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The Congress on Saturday rejected the charge of interference in the preparation of the Central Bureau of Investigation’s report in the coal scam for the Supreme Court and ruled out resignation of Law Minister Ashwani Kumar in this regard.
"There is no question of resignation of Law Minister Ashwani Kumar. Supreme Court has already asked CBI to file an affidavit in this regard. CBI will file its affidavit and truth will come out".
"The matter is being investigated under the supervision of the Supreme Court. BJP should wait and not try to misguide the country and not try to create obstacles in the way of investigations", party spokesman Rashid Alvi said.
His reaction came close on the heels of BJP leader Arun Jaitley's demand for constitution of a special investigation team in the wake of reports of alleged interference in the preparation of CBI report in the coal scam.
The Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha also accused the UPA of being a "rogue government" that will not allow CBI to function independently.
On the media report that the CBI probe status report had been "vetted" by the Law Minister and the Prime Minister's Office, he said, "That this should be done at the level of the Minister and the officials of the PMO itself raises serious questions."
"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 said.
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".
Making light of the opposition charges, Alvi said he was not aware of the CBI officers meeting the Minister.
"Officers sometimes meet the Ministers, but it is not necessary that Ministers put pressure on them", he said.
"BJP is in the habit of criticising government unnecessarily. If Government orders a CBI inquiry, they demand a JPC. If government constitutes a JPC, then they create problems for the JPC," he added.