The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday said a letter to Team Anna on the coal mining issue is not the need of the hour and the government should order a full-fledged probe into the scam to bring out the truth. "We feel that just a letter from the PMO to Team Anna on Coalgate is not enough. A thorough probe is required. Even when the 2G spectrum scam took place, the PMO and Cabinet ministers said there was zero loss," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is likely to register a case against former Minister of State for Coal of the United Progressive Alliance-I government, Santosh Bagrodia, and on his kin, including his younger brother Satish, who has bagged the mining contract of the National Thermal Power Corporation block in Jharkhand.
The Supreme Court judgement will hopefully ensure that those in power and authority will hesitate before allotting precious natural resources that belong to each and every citizen of the country in an arbitrary and corrupt manner, says Paranjoy Guha Thakurta.
To reinforce his image of 'Mr Clean', Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is seriously considering addressing the nation on the issue of coalgate and the impasse in Parliament with opposition Bharatiya Janata Party not allowing the House to run.
Some of Bharatiya Janata Party's allies have proposed a "via media" which could end the current impasse in Parliament over "coalgate" which disrupted Parliament all of this week.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday a plea seeking its direction to the Central Bureau of Investigation to name Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in its First Information Repotfiled against industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and former Coal Secretary P C Parakh in a coal block allocation case.
Taking a jibe at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for his "money does not grow on trees" statement, Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday alleged that for the Congress, 2G scam and Coalgate have become money trees.
'However, to establish a quid pro quo, one can potentially see several things, like whether they got any benefits from the party that they gave money to. That is something that people (of India) will gauge. But to finally establish that there was money paid as consideration, it would require an investigation, a proper investigation, to be able to come up with such conclusions.'
CBI is likely to examine soon Hindalco chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla and former Coal Secretary P C Parakh, who are named as accused in the FIR related to Talabira coal block allocation to Hindalco, as it wants to expedite probe.
'My suspicion is that most of the bonds were given by companies who had got contracts or who had benefited from policy changes by the government.'
It is hoped that the decision of India's apex court will send a signal to politicians and their cronies from the world of business that the rule of the law does eventually prevail, says Paranjoy Guha Thakurta.
Five others, including one retired and another serving public servant -- K S Kropha and K C Samria -- were held guilty for various offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code.
Central Bureau of Investigation on Friday registered a fresh case against a Nagpur-based company for alleged irregularities in the allocation of coal block during the NDA regime in 2003.
Uttam Ghosh's tongue-in-cheek take on the on-going Coalgate scam.
Parliament was disrupted for the eleventh day on Wednesday following uproar over coal block allocation as the Bharatiya Janata Party stuck to its demand for resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Former Coal Secretary H C Gupta, who resigned as member of Competition Commission of India, was on Thursday questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation in connection with coal blocks allocation from 2006 to 2009 during his tenure.
Former PM Manmohan Singh moved the SC against a special court order summoning him as accused in coalgate case.
Ex-coal secy HC Gupta and other officials were later granted statutory bail as the jail term was below four years.
The Central Bureau of Investigation has registered two fresh cases against two companies for alleged forgery and cheating in connection with its probe in the coal block allocation scam. CBI sleuths are currently carrying out searches in 16 locations, including Delhi and Hyderabad. The agency has booked an infrastructure and a steel company on charges of forgery and cheating while applying for captive coal blocks, CBI sources said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has asked Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal to ensure that the report of the Inter Ministerial Group -- which is reviewing the allotments of coal blocks -- is on his table on September 16.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Friday called on President Pranab Mukherjee, official sources said.
Parliament remained deadlocked for the sixth day on Tuesday as Bharatiya Janata Party stuck to its demand for resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the coal block allocation issue.
Rejecting Finance Minister P Chidambaram's zero-loss theory in coal allocation scam because no mining was done, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said his view was akin to Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal's repudiation of CAG's estimation of presumptive loss in allocation of 2G spectrum.
Many top corporate groups hit hard, in penalties and sunk investments, beside loss of future revenue
The Central Bureua of Investigation sought a maximum of seven years imprisonment for the five convicted persons and imposition of heavy fine on the private firm.
During the debate on the 'Motion of Thanks on the President's Address', Leader of the House Piyush Goyal and Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman strongly objected to 'insinuations' against the prime minister, who was also present in the House.
The Central Vigilance Commission has sought a detailed report from the Central Bureau of Investigation over the Centre's interference in its investigation into the coal blocks allocation scam.
Additional Solicitor General Harin Rawal, in a tersely-written letter to his boss and Attorney General G E Vahanvati, accusing him of messy handling of the CBI in the coal scam investigation, and sparking speculation that the latter may recuse himself from the case. Sheela Bhatt reports.
A special court on Thursday refused to accept a closure report by the Central Bureau of Investigation and directed it to further investigate an alleged scam in coal blocks allocation, involving Congress Rajya Sabha MP Vijay Darda, saying he had misrepresented facts in letters written to then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Taking forward its probe in coal allocation scam, the Central Bureau of Investigation has booked two companies for alleged misrepresentation of facts while applying for captive blocks.
Actor-turned-Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament Shatrughan Sinha said that it is high time for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to resign on the moral grounds since he is 'responsible' for the coal scam and cannot escape accountability.
Under attack from the opposition over the Comptroller and Auditor General report on coal blocks allocation, the government is all set to counter it through a nation-wide campaign by key ministers and partymen.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh had a rare smile on his face when he categorically ruled out his resignation. He had just returned from Teheran when he outright rejected the Bharatiya Janata Party's demand for his resignation.
Top United Progressive Alliance leaders tonight dismissed as ' nreasonable' the BJP's stalling of Parliament on coal blocs allocation issue and its demand for resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and stood by the government's offer to discuss the subject in the House.
The Supreme Court decision to cancel the allocation of 214 coal blocks will have bearing on thermal power plants, in which the banks have put in more than Rs 1 lakh crore (Rs 1 trillion) as loans.
The Comptroller and Auditor General reports saw senior politicians, powerful ministers and top bureaucrats end up in jail. Thanks to those reports, public scams such as 2G, Coalgate and the Commonwealth Games became part of the popular discourse.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday gave a stern message to the CBI that none of the senior IPS officers in the team supervising the investigation in the coal block allocation scam will be allowed repatriation to their parent cadre without completing the task.
Information acquired Right to Information activist Mahendra Yadav, has revealed that JAS Infrastructure Capital Pvt Ltd, one of the five companies against whom the Central Bureau of Investigation had registered first information reports, had acquired the coal blocks without signing a revised Memorandum of Understanding.
The Central Bureau of Investigation is likely to file cases against the government of Odisha, Jharkhand and against several chief secretaries, and government officials who have dealt with coal allocation.
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