Thaindian News

New Delhi, Aug 21 (IANS) After both houses of parliament were adjourned Tuesday over an alleged coal block scam, the BJP vowed not to let the houses function until Prime Minister Manmohan Singh resigned.

“We have demanded the prime minister’s resignation and we are serious about it,” Bharatiya Janata party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters.

“This is not the only incident of corruption. There is the 2G scam, the Commonwealth Games scam, airport public private partnership scam. Manmohan Singh’s government is the government of corruption and loot,” Prasad said.

Prasad’s comments came on a day when the opposition forced both houses of parliament to be adjourned. The opposition is demanding the prime minister’s resignation.

Asked if the opposition will allow parliament to function, Prasad said: “The obligation to run parliament is not ours.”

On being asked if the opposition would compromise if the government takes on a debate on the CAG report, Prasad said: “We have discussed other scams. What action has been taken? The prime minister promised action in the Commonwealth Games scam. Why is he defending Sheila Dikshit’s government?”

He added that the main opposition party will also take up the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report on Delhi airport.

India’s official auditor, the CAG last week revealed that the lack of transparency in allocation of coal blocks to private players resulted in a loss of Rs.1.85 lakh crore ($37 billion) to the exchequer as on March 11 last year.

The audit report does not directly indict the prime minister or his office. But during the time these mining blocks were allotted, the coal portfolio was held by Manmohan Singh between July 2004 and May 2009.

Earlier, National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leaders decided to keep demanding Manmohan Singh’s exit.

“The house is not likely to function for the whole week, possibly even the whole session, if our concerns are not addressed. We are firm on the demand for the prime minister’s resignation,” a BJP leader told IANS.

An NDA meeting was attended by BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, Anant Geete of the Shiv Sena, Ratan Singh Ajnala of the Akali Dal and NDA convenor and Janata Dal-United chief Sharad Yadav.