Thaindian News

New Delhi, Aug 29 (IANS) Sticking to its demand for cancelling allocation of 142 coal blocks and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s resignation, the BJP Wednesday said it will launch a nationwide agitation on the issue, starting Friday.

Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said the party will organise demonstrations in 40 cities across the country.

“These allotments were just to pocket the coal blocks. We have decided to launch a nationwide agitation and on 31st (Aug) we will begin of our fight against corruption,” Javadekar told reporters.

“On 31st (Aug), 1st (Sep) and 2nd (Sep) our leaders will go to 40 cities and we will launch our protest,” he said.

The Comptroller and Auditor General in its report said the country has suffered a presumptive loss of Rs.1.85 lakh crore ($37 billion) because of allocation and non-auction of the coal blocks.

The Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the BJP, Wednesday also burned an effigy of the prime minister, protesting the scam.

“The coal block allocation process was twisted and manipulated. While the committee had 10 representatives from the central government, there was only one from the state concerned. It appears that these bunglings were pre-planned and the motive was to make profits not as a nation but as a party,” Javadekar said.

“We demand an explanation from the government on how it did comparative appraisal of the 1,400 applications for 140 coal blocks. Please provide us details of the comparative appraisal. How and on what basis was this comparative assessment made? How come 17 coal blocks were allotted in one day without any presentation being made by the applicants,” he asked.