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The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday said the Supreme Court's "serious observations" in the Central Bureau of Investigation case relating to coal-gate involving Law Minister Ashwani Kumar confirmed that the probe report on the scam was changed by the minister and demanded his resignation.
Soon after the Supreme Court's observations were made, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said on Twitter, "ASG (Additional Solicitor General) blamed the attorney general. Now the attorney general blames the law minister. The fact is all three of them have misconducted themselves." "The ASG has resigned. The attorney general and law minister should also resign forthwith," she added.
The BJP cited the submissions made by the ASG and the AG to insist that it is clear Kumar made changes in the report. The Supreme Court on Wednesday observed that the CBI has become like a parrot, which repeats the lines of its political masters. "The Supreme Court has observed that the case has been diluted and heart of the report has been changed," senior BJP leader M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters. He said this case vindicates the BJP's charge that the government is misusing the CBI.
"It is also using the CBI to harass political parties. This government is surviving due to the CBI," Naidu said in an oblique reference to reported misuse of the premier agency against the Samajwadi Party and Bahujan Samaj Party whose presidents are facing charges of accumulating assets disproportionate to known sources of their income. These cases are being probed by the CBI.