BJP keen on special Parliament session to corner government on FDI

New Delhi: With the Trinamool Congress deciding to quit the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) sees an opportunity to corner the ruling coalition and is planning to demand a special session of Parliament to discuss the issue of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in retail but its key ally Janata Dal (United) is not in favour of this move.

The BJP says it feels the government will not last its full term till 2014 if the Trinamool Congress goes ahead with its decision to exit the UPA.

Senior party leader L K Advani said his party would like a special session to be convened to discuss this issue, holding that the government has committed a "breach of trust" of Parliament.

The party, however, said it will consult its allies of National Democratic Alliance (NDA) after tomorrow's nationwide agitation against FDI in retail and diesel price hike before firming up its position.

"Yesterday's development has destabilised the present government. It is only a matter of time that it will collapse. The present government cannot last its full term till 2014. Anything can happen before that," Mr Advani told Press Trust of India.

He said since the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had promised in both houses of Parliament that the decision on FDI in retail would not be taken before evolving a consensus with all stakeholders, the government had committed a "breach of trust of Parliament".

"The promise had been made to both houses of Parliament by the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee that we will not bring FDI in retail until a consensus is evolved with all stakeholders including all political parties and all Chief Ministers. Therefore, we hold that the announcement of FDI in retail is a breach of trust of Parliament," Mr Advani said.

He said "therefore, we would request for convening of a special session of Parliament. We will make a formal request to the President for the special session after the September 20 nation-wide bandh called by us."

Asked whether there is a need for convening a special session of Parliament, JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav said there is "no need" for it as it will not solve any problem.

BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said "our leader L K Advani has said that we can demand a special session of Parliament on the issue as the Prime Minister had promised on the floor of the House that this is an era of federalism and if we bring FDI in retail, we will try and build a consensus before".

"We in NDA will decide on whether to convene a special session of Parliament... We will decide at the NDA meeting after tomorrow's nationwide bandh," he said. 

Coal scandal: Inter-Ministerial Group's review concludes, report to be submitted today

New Delhi: The Inter-Ministerial Group or the IMG is likely to submit its report to the coal ministry today. The panel has reviewed the progress of coal blocks that were allocated to private firms without auction. Many of these private companies have alleged links to politicians and their relatives. The Coal Ministry is also preparing a response to counter the charges that were made by the national auditor in its report on the coal allocations, say sources.

"All the coal blocks on agenda for three days (September 6-8) have been reviewed," Zohra Chatterji, Additional Secretary in the Coal Ministry who headed the IMG, said on Saturday.

After submitting the report to the Coal Ministry on Monday, it will be forwarded to the Prime Minister's Office before September 15.

The IMG meeting took place in the backdrop of Comptroller and Auditor General or the CAG estimating undue advantage to private companies to the extent of Rs. 1.86 lakh crore in the absence of auction.

Most of the Monsoon Session of Parliament was washed out with the Opposition, mainly Bharatiya Janata Party, demanding resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the issue. He had held the coal portfolio during UPA-1 when most of these blocks were allocated.

During the three-day IMG meeting, all the 29 allottees gave progress reports of their blocks and several of them said delays in starting the production resulted due to lack of various clearances from different state governments.

Coal block allottees, including Tata Steel, Reliance Power, JSW, Grasim Industries, Kesoram Industries, IST Steel & Power, SKS Ispat and Power, Bihar Sponge Iron, appeared before the panel during IMG's three-day review exercise.

Before the start of the review exercise, the Coal Ministry had said on September 3 that the latest progress as reported by the Coal Controller would also be taken into account by the IMG "before recommending on the action against the coal block allottees".

The IMG has also firmed up the guidelines for proportionate deduction of bank guarantees for failure to achieve milestones for development of the block, it said.

After its presentation on Saturday, IST Steel & Power, in which former Corporate Affairs Minister Prem Chand Gupta's son Gaurav Gupta is a Director, said it did not know why a show- cause notice was sent to it as its coal block in Chhattisgarh is progressing on schedule.

SKS Ispat and Power, in which Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahai's brother held the position of "honorary director", also presented its case before the IMG.

Bhushan Steel & Power, which had been allotted Bijahan coal mine in Odisha, said it has already conveyed to the Ministry that the end-use plant for which it was allotted mine in 2006 is already under operation.

"The end use plant is already is completed and we have invested Rs. 22,000 crore in the integrated steel and power plant and we have covered all the major milestone like land acquisition, mining plan approved," an official of Bhushan Steel & Power said.

Another official with Himachal Emta Power Ltd which was allotted Gourangdih ABC coal block along with JSW Steel said due to some technical problem in the block, the company had to revise the mining plan of the block.

An official of the Mukund Steel which was allotted Rajhara North (Central & Eastern) block said there was no delay from the company's side.

(With inputs from PTI)

Rajya Sabha scuffle over quota bill: Who said what

New Delhi: The Rajya Sabha today witnessed high drama as a scuffle broke out between Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) members when the government introduced a bill to provide for reservations in promotions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in government jobs.

Members of SP were on their feet when the government was asked to move the bill. SP leader Naresh Agrawal moved towards the Well. He was encountered by BSP member Avatar Singh Karimpuri, who grabbed him by his collar to prevent Mr Agarwal from trooping into the Well.

Here are the reactions of various leaders after the incident:

Mayawati, Bahujan Samaj Party chief
The Congress delayed the Bill and did not introduce it in the last session as they wanted their candidate to win the Presidential elections. Now the BJP is not cooperating as they feel that by cornering the UPA government they can win the elections in 2014. I had appealed to the BJP to give importance to quota promotion bill instead of Coal-gate today. But they are being stubborn.

Naresh Agarwal, Samajwadi Party MP
In my 32 years as a legislator, I have not seen such a thing. The BSP MP was being offensive and I was not allowed to speak. This is similar to what happened in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly when there was a BSP govt.

Mulayam Singh, Samajwadi Party chief
This is unconstitutional. The bill was introduced and no one came to know about it. We will go to the people against this. The Congress Party will have to face the consequences then. This is a promotion to make junior a senior and vice versa. They (government) are making a mockery of rules. Are they running the government or making a joke? Is it constitutional to make junior a senior and a senior a junior?

Ravi Shankar Prasad, BJP spokesperson
I urge Ms Mayawati to stand with us on the issue of corruption. There are so many cases of corruption. Please stand with us on the issue of corruption. Social justice is an ongoing battle that has been going on and must go on.

Sharad Yadav, NDA convenor
Our party fully supports the bill for providing reservation for promotion in jobs to the SC/ST. But there are certain issues on which we have different stands from our ally BJP but there is no division in the NDA. NDA is one and will remain intact.

(With inputs from PTI)

Scuffle in Rajya Sabha over promotion quota bill; Govt says no time to pass it in this session

New Delhi: The image of MPs took another blow today with two members of the Rajya Sabha fighting with each other even as a bill to allow reservation in promotions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in government jobs was being tabled. The BJP kept up its protest against the government over the coal scam, not allowing the House to function and get the bill passed.

After a meeting called by the Prime Minister to discuss the fallout of the scuffle and the chaos in Parliament, home minister Sushil Kumar Shinde said that there wouldn't be enough time to pass the bill.  Rajya Sabha had to be finally adjourned for the day just after 2pm after the opposition again shouted slogans against the government.

This session of Parliament ends on Friday. However, the bill will stay "alive" for all time since it was tabled in Rajya Sabha, which does not have expiry date, unlike Lok Sabha.

Mayawati blamed the BJP and the Congress for the adjournments and the delays in getting the bill passed and called both parties "snakes" after Mr Shinde said that the bill won't pass in this session. The government reacted by saying that it had done its job by tabling the bill. The SP said that it will continue to oppose the bill, which Mulayam Singh Yadav called "unconstitutional".

The two MPs who turned the floor of Rajya Sabha into a wrestling ring belong to the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party. The SP is opposed to the introduction of quotas in promotion for SC/STs and the BSP is the prime mover of the bill. The SP's Naresh Agarwal and BSP's Avtar Singh were seen pushing each other and exchanging blows even as Minister of State in the PM's Office V Narayanasamy quickly tabled the bill. He later said that he had been expecting some trouble so had not carried any pieces of paper with him. In a similar scuffle during the tabling of the women's reservation bill (which too the SP opposes), a copy of the bill was torn up.

Mr Agarwal sought to justify his action in Parliament by saying that the BSP member was getting "offensive" and not allowing him to speak. His party leader Ram Gopal Yadav defended Mr Agarwal by invoking the scriptures: "It's alright to talk about lowering the dignity but even in Vedas and Puranas... it's written that in emergency everything is justified."

The BJP accuses the government of using this bill to divert attention from its demand that the Prime Minister resign on the coal allocation issue. The BJP is not opposed to the bill but is wary of being seen as helping the government. BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said that his party was not against social justice but insisted that it will not give up its demand for the cancellation of the allocations of 142 coal blocks which it says is at the root of the "coal-gate" scam. 

From: NDTV

Fuel price hike imminent after Parliament session?

Oil marketing companies are likely to hike the prices of all categories of fuel after the current session of Parliament ends, sources told NDTV.

The monsoon session of Parliament is scheduled to end this week.
 
The Finance Ministry is out of funds to subsidize products any longer, the sources added.

NDTV has learnt that a comprehensive note has already been sent by the Petroleum Ministry to the

Cabinet Secretariat listing various options for increasing prices of petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene.

The Prime Minister has seen the note, and a final call on the quantum of the hikes is not decided yet.

An EGoM has not been constituted for the same and a meeting of the Cabinet Committee of Political Affairs (CCPA) will have to be convened for taking a decision on this politically sensitive matter.

Oil firms are currently losing Rs. 1.37 a litre on petrol, Rs. 19.26 a litre on diesel, Rs. 34.34 per litre on kerosene and Rs. 347 per cylinder of domestic cooking gas.
International crude prices have again touched $115 per barrel.

Prices of diesel as well as LPG and kerosene have not been increased since June last year, although the cost of production has jumped nearly 28 per cent, industry sources said.

Governments will come and go, but oil companies have to be saved at any cost, the sources said.

Oil companies revised prices of petrol only on four occasions this fiscal year: a hike of Rs. 7.54 a litre on May 24, followed by a partial rollback by Rs. 2.02 per litre on June 3, and a reduction of Rs. 2.46 a litre on June 29, followed by a marginal hike of Rs. 0.70 a litre on July 24.

From: NDTV

Government to introduce reservation in promotions for SC/STs in Rajya Sabha today; Mulayam's party opposed

New Delhi: The government plans to introduce in the Rajya Sabha today, a bill to allow reservation in promotions for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in government jobs. The Union Cabinet cleared a proposal on Tuesday that seeks to amend four key articles of the Constitution to make that possible.

Amending the Constitution became necessary after the Supreme Court struck down in April this year, a decision made by Mayawati when she was Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, to provide reservation for SC/STs in promotion to higher posts in government departments. At an all-party meeting in August, most political formations supported quota in reservations. But Attorney General GE Vahanvati has warned the government that any law on the reservations issue should be framed with extreme caution because it is likely to be legally challenged.

The Prime Minister has said that a legally sustainable solution will be found. For now, the Congress-led UPA government has to ensure that Parliament sits long enough for the bill to be taken up. With only three days left of the current monsoon session, it has requested the main opposition party, the BJP, to help pass the Bill; the BJP has not allowed either House to function for the last 10 days demanding the Prime Minister's resignation in connection with a coal scandal and has made it clear that it will not relent till its demands are met. But the party supports the reservation-in-promotions bill and it remains to be seen if that will make it agree to let Parliament function so that it can be passed. Top BJP leaders met on Tuesday evening to discuss the matter and the party has decided to continue its protest in Parliament over the coal scam.

The bill will need the support of a two-thirds majority in both Houses of Parliament as it seeks to amend the Constitution. It entails a vote and the House has to be in order. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal has said the government is determined to pass it. If it does manage to get Parliament to function and pass the bill in the Rajya Sabha today, it plans to bring it in the Lok Sabha on Thursday.

Mulayam Singh Yadav's Samajwadi Party, which provides outside support to the UPA government and has bailed it out of sticky positions many times, has said it will oppose it this once. The SP was the lone dissenter at the all-party meeting in August. The SP wants all quota benefits to be extended to other backward classes (OBCs). "This stand of the cabinet is wrong. The Samajwadi Party is against this and we will continue to protest," senior SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav said yesterday.

Mayawati, who heads the Bahujan Samaj Party, is now making focused efforts to get political parties to cooperate and allow a discussion and vote on the bill. She has met BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley to seek their support. Ms Mayawati said on Tuesday, "We want to request for a voting on the bill in this session and request NDA to help us in this. We want UPA also to appeal to NDA to help us pass this bill."

When it quashed the Mayawati decision, the Supreme Court had questioned this criterion for promotion, saying the government needed to quantify that Dalits and backwards were insufficiently represented in the public services and therefore needed this quota. The court had said that three aspects needed to be looked into for reservations in promotions: backwardness, representation and overall administrative efficiency.

Though the amendments are aimed at legally combating any challenge, the bill might still run into rough weather in the courts. Constitutional expert PP Rao said that if the government brings in amendment without "curing the defects" pointed out by the Supreme Court then it may not stand legal scrutiny.

From: NDTV

Coal scandal: Final report by inter-ministerial group by September 10

New Delhi:  An Inter-Ministerial Group, with an expanded mandate to review the status of 90 coal blocks allotted since 1993 to private firms, met today in New Delhi. Sources say the panel might recommend that licences for about 60 of these blocks be cancelled as the firms they were allotted to have failed to develop them. Sources say allottees of these blocks have been called-in for presenting their case. The firms stand to lose their bank guarantees, if they have not achieved the required development of the coal blocks. A final recommendation by the committee is expected to reach the Coal Secretary by September 10.

Here are 10 latest developments in this story:

1. Of the 60 blocks for which the panel is expected to recommend cancellation of licences, 53 were allotted during the Congress-led UPA regime and seven during the pre-2004 BJP-led NDA regime. The panel cites non-progress as the reason for cancellation. Show cause notices were sent to 58 firms in April this year. The companies have been asked to defend themselves between the 6th and 8th of this month. 
2. NDTV has accessed an internal note of the Inter-Ministerial Group, which was set up in June this year. It says that the cancellations that it recommends could defuse the current crisis. It also says that production in the 60 blocks, which it has identified for non-performance, is unlikely by March 2013. The panel is expected to recommend that if licences for the 60 blocks are cancelled, these can be handed over to the public sector undertaking, Coal India. These 60 blocks have an estimated 6.7 billion tonnes of coal reserves valued at Rs. 2 lakh crore.
3. Coal Ministry sources stress that what the panel reviews today is unrelated to the CAG coal block allocation issue. The sources have clarified that many coal blocks under review today are different from those mentioned in the national auditor's report on coal allocation that has created a political storm, with the BJP holding up Parliament proceedings for the last nine days as it demands the Prime Minister's resignation. The Comptroller and Auditor General or CAG has said that private companies had a windfall gain of about Rs. 1.86 lakh crore from what it calls non-transparent allocation of 142 coal fields. The BJP points out that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who held charge of the coal ministry, must own moral responsibility. It also wants those licences cancelled; the government has refused to do that.
4.  Sources say that 17 firms under review today are also mentioned in the CAG report. A draft report of the committee reportedly faults the companies for failing to develop mines and also says many of them did not apply for land clearance.
5. Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal has asked the panel for a status report by September 15. The recommendations of the inter-ministerial panel are not binding upon the Coal Ministry. But the Prime Minister's Office appears keen for action against defaulters. Two companies that could be affected, according to the documents accessed by NDTV, are Jindal Steel and Power Limited, owned by Congress parliamentarian Navin Jindal, and Usha Martin, owned by the Jhawar family. They were each assigned coal blocks in Jharkhand.
6. On July 25 the committee recommended to the Coal Ministry that the licences of these firms be cancelled. Nearly a month later, on August 21, Coal Secretary SK Srivastava asked why a recommendation for action was being made at a time when guidelines for revoking licences have not yet been formalised. On August 23, the head of the ministerial committee, Zohra Chatterji, who is also the Additional Coal Secretary, responded that the existing terms for licences allow for cancellation if a company does not show satisfactory progress in developing mines. Ms Chatterji also pointedly said that it was upto the Coal Ministry to accept or ignore recommendations.
7. Four days later, the Coal Secretary seemed to take a U-turn and stressed in a letter dated August 27 that the Prime Minister's Office had expressed concern over "not initiating action in the respect of de-allocation where show cause notices have been issued." He also wrote that the PMO had asked the ministry to expedite all matters on a priority basis.
8. The Coal Secretary is unhappy that the inter-ministerial panel did not give the companies concerned an opportunity to defend themselves, sources said. Mr Srivastava raised a similar point with Ms Chatterji in similar correspondence. She responded by saying in a note that a detailed report of the companies' responses to their show cause notices has not been readied because the concerned department within the Coal Ministry is "overburdened with work related to a CBI inquiry".
9. However, officials from the concerned companies said this is not a valid reason for recommending de-allocation. They said they had replied to the show cause notice that was sent to them in April by the government but their answers had not been taken into account by the committee that had recommended the cancellation of licences.
10. The Opposition BJP has faulted the government for a coal policy that was not in the best interests of the country. It is the last week of the Monsoon Session; for the last nine days the BJP has made it impossible for Parliament to transact any business as it demands the PM's resignation. On Friday, the PM said there was no question of him quitting. He accused the BJP of violating democratic processes by not allowing Parliament to function.
    
    From: NDTV

Coal blocks allocation: PM to make statement in Parliament

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will make a statement on coal block allocation in Parliament on Monday in the wake of the CAG report, which has been used by the Opposition to attack him. Singh will make the statement in both the Houses, government sources said. The Prime Minister, who is under attack over the allocation during 2005-2009 when he held the coal portfolio, has been waiting to make a statement since last week but could not do so because of disruption caused by Opposition, mainly BJP.

He is expected to rebut charges levelled in the CAG report contending that there were "inaccuracies" in the "misleading" assessment of loss of Rs. 1.86 lakh crore, sources said. The thrust of the PM's response is likely to be that Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Odisha and Jharkhand, all ruled by non-UPA governments, had opposed in 2005 the Centre's move to bring a legislation on auction process. The delay in coal block allocation was one of the charges made by the CAG.
Singh had last week said that he "can give satisfactory answers to all issues being raised".
Contesting the CAG's contention that private firms gained to the tune of Rs. 1.86 lakh crore in coal block allocation between 2005 and 2009, Singh is expected to assert that it reflects "inaccuracies" in the report.

The Prime Minister is expected to say that the CAG has computed on the basis of allocation of 57 mines but out of these, 31 coal blocks belong to the period prior to 2006. He will assert that the amount of loss projected by CAG was "misleading" as calculations had been done on the basis of Coal India prices and private players have different cost parameters, the sources said.

However, accusing UPA government of being "arrogant and despotic", BJP leader Arun Jaitley on Sunday said the onus is on Prime Minister Minister Manmohan Singh to accept the responsibility for the "arbitrary and discretionary" allocation of 142 coal blocks. In hard hitting comments, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha also said the Prime Minister's Office should be judged by standards "much harsher" than those which would apply to ministers like A Raja who had to resign over the controversial 2G spectrum license allocation.

Jaitley on Sunday said suggestions to debate the issue only in Parliament "will put a lid on one of the greatest scandals in Indian history." "It has been suggested that since the Prime Minister himself was the coal minister, we should assume that this decision was fair. The Prime Minister’s office is a sacred institution in Indian democracy. It has to be judged by standards much harsher than those which would apply to Ministers(Telecom) like Shri A Raja," Jaitley said in an article released by the BJP.

The BJP leader said that a debate is an essential ingredient of Parliament but so is accountability.
Jaitley said that if the process of allocation by the Prime Minister as a coal minister "smacks of arbitrariness it shakes our national conscience. The onus is now on the Prime Minister to accept the responsibility for what has happened."

"Suggestions that the issue should be debated only in the Parliament will put a lid on one of the greatest scandals in Indian history. We, in the Opposition, are not interested in merely the issue being talked out through a one-day debate in Parliament", he added. In the article, titled "The Allocation of 142 Coal Blocks", Jaitley said "The arbitrary and discretionary allocation of 142 coal blocks is the latest albatross round the neck of the UPA Government. The arrogant and despotic government did not realise when the allocations were made that it would be held accountable for each of these coal block allocations."

On the other hand, the government on Sunday night hit back at the BJP for defending obstruction in Parliament over CAG report on coal blocks allocation, saying the opposition was running away from discussion as it feared that the debate will boomerang on them. "During their (NDA) regime one can walk in with the recommendations of the state government and walk out with coal block allocations. UPA changed that through transparent process of ascertaining eligibility of captive blocks for cement steel and power plants," Parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal told PTI.

Ridiculing BJP leader Arun Jaitley's contention justifying disruption of Parliament proceedings by terming it as a "rarest of rare cases", Bansal said that from day one of the last Lok Sabha when UPA came to power, obstruction has become the order of the day. "Obstruction has not been an exception. It has now become a norm. And after making the reckless demand of resignation of the Prime Minister, the BJP did not realise what lay in the matter and that is why they are running away from the discussion." he said.

He also lamented that the main opposition was "totally oblivious" of the role and relevance of Parliament, and were making obstructions when a heavy legislative agenda was before Parliament including some anti-corruption bills.

From: PTI

Coal deadlock in Parliament: BJP tries to unite opposition ahead of Speaker's meet

New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is trying to unite the opposition ahead of an all-party meet called by the Speaker to end the deadlock in Parliament over the government auditor's report on coal allocation, sources have told NDTV.

The main Opposition party, which leads the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), wants to meet all opposition leaders ahead of the Monday meeting, sources said, adding that NDA convenor Sharad Yadav has extended invites to Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh Yadav, Bhaujan Samaj Party's Mayawati, Telugu Desam Party's Chandrababu Naidu and also some Left leaders.

An all-party meeting called by the Rajya Sabha Chairman to end the impasses failed to find a solution yesterday. The Chairman had called the meeting after a cacophonous BJP paralysed Parliament for the third day in a row, demanding the Prime Minister's resignation over what is being called "Coal-gate."

So far the BJP has said it will accept nothing less than the resignation of Dr Manmohan Singh for allegedly allowing private firms to gain thousands of crores because they were sold hugely under-priced coal fields. It has rejected the Congress-led government's offer that the PM will make a statement on the matter, which can also be debated on the floor of Parliament. The BJP has said it will not allow Parliament to get to work till Dr Singh accepts responsibility for "Coal-Gate" and quits, a possibility shot down by the ruling Congress as "preposterous."

Each hour of Parliament in session costs Rs. 25 lakh. So over the last  two days, two crores have been wasted. The Leader of the Lok Sabha Sushil Kumar Shinde is, meanwhile, making every effort to ensure more Parliament time is not wasted. Mr Shinde, who is also the Home Minister, met Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj of the BJP yesterday afternoon and later said that he hoped a solution would be found when Parliament resumed on Monday. Congress president Sonia Gandhi has, meanwhile, sent out a tough message to her MPs saying, don't be defensive, attack.

The coal controversy is pivoted on a report by the national auditor which said that private players got 'windfall gains' of upto 1.86 lakh crores between 2005 and 2009 because they were not made to bid for coal fields. Instead, they were allotted coal fields at a fraction of their value.  Because the PM was Coal Minister for a part of this period, the BJP says the alleged swindle - being investigated now by the CBI - took place on his watch.

The report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has been described as faulty by the government and has been seized by the opposition as evidence of the government's alleged ineptitude and tolerance of corruption. 

"We believe we have a compelling case," said Law Minister Salman Khurshid,  faulting the BJP for not allowing a debate. The government says that the BJP knows it is on shaky moral ground -  in 2005, when the government suggested that  using an auction to assign coal fields would increase transparency, several states governed by the BJP objected on record.

The government has said that at the time, the state-run Coal India Limited was not able to meet the demands of a growing economy. The law at the time did not allow for coal fields to be auctioned. Creating consensus among political parties and other stake-holders, and then introducing new administrative and legal guidelines, would take time. So a screening committee with representatives of state governments assigned the coal fields to different firms. The national auditor has said that there appears to be no clear record of how recipients were chosen; it finds that the allocations were made largely on the basis of recommendations by state governments.

From: NDTV

Caught on tape: Adjourn the house, minister whispered to Deputy Chairman

New Delhi: As the BJP shouted its demand for the resignation of the Prime Minister, in the Rajya Sabha, Rajiv Shuka walked up to PJ Kurien, who had just been elected Deputy Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, and  was presiding over the house. Mr Shukla, who is Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, whispered to Mr Kurien that the house should be adjourned for the day.

Two minutes later, Mr Kurien declared just that.

Mr Shukla's instructions were caught on Mr Kurien's mic and the cameras that broadcast proceedings of the Upper House. "Pure din ke liye House adjourn kara dijiye (Adjourn the House for the day)," he directed. "Yes," responded Mr Kurien. 

"What is the big deal? It's nothing unusual. If the Opposition is not letting the House function, we can always give our suggestions to the Chair. It's upto the Chair to decide whether he wants to accept our suggestion. It has always been like this," Rajiv Shukla said, responding to the controversy this evening.

Defending his action, Mr Kurien said, "I came to the conclusion that the House cannot continue. There is no question of (taking) instructions from (a) minister."

"They are not instructions, not even suggestions. The Chair considers them only as opinions and then Chair will take its independent decision, irrespective of what this side or that side (says)," the Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman added.

The opposition BJP, however, has objected to what transpired.  Describing the incident as "unacceptable," the party's Nirmala Sitharaman said, "This is typical of the way in which this government functions by trying to undermine institutions."   

Spokesperson Prakash Javadekar added, " On the one hand it (Congress)  is telling the Chair to adjourn the House and on the other hand, they are blaming the BJP for causing disruptions."

Mr Kurien was unanimously elected Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha today. After Chairman Hamid Ansari announced this, the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition Arun  Jaitley escorted him to his seat. Mr Kurien replaced K Rehman Khan, whose term ended in April.

Both houses of Parliament were adjourned on account of the BJP's protests.  The party says that the Prime Minister must resign on the basis of the national auditor's recent report  which states that the country lost 1.86 lakh crores because coal mines were given too cheaply to private companies during 2005 and 2009.  For three of these years, the Coal Ministry reported directly to Dr Manmohan Singh.

The PM told NDTV today that he is ready to address parliament on the controversy, and would like to engage with the opposition on any issue it suggests.  The BJP said it wasn't interested in a discussion. "Since the Prime Minister was the Coal Minister at the time, he assigned the coal blocks and that's why we demand his resignation," said the party's Yashwant Sinha. 

From NDTV