Centre battles coal fire

Congress in dock over SC remark, but to wait and watch

The Congress on Tuesday found itself in the Opposition’s line of fire after the Supreme Court slammed CBI’s act of sharing the status report on Coal scam with the government, with chorus getting louder that law minister Ashwani Kumar should quit after such a serious indictment.

However, the Congress said that it would rather wait for the “final opinion” of the top court before taking any decision on the matter.

Attacking the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government, Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said the apex court has termed this a “massive breach of trust” that the CBI had to share the report on coal scam with the political executive. “I don't think any government has had to face this kind of remarks,” she said, adding, “It is unfortunate for any country that the highest court of the land has said this about its government. It should be a matter of shame.”

She termed the UPA-II regime as the most corrupt, but said the BJP has no plans to bring no-trust vote against the government.

The Left parties called upon Dr Singh to come clean on the issue. CPM’s Sitaram Yechury demanded that the PM face Parliament, a view echoed by CPI’s D. Raja.

Congress, for its part conceded that it was not an amiable comment but added that it would wait for the verdict. Janardhan Dwivedi said, “Of course, it is not a pleasant comment for any dispensation, for any composition of the Government.” He maintained that the Congress “has never commented on the remarks of any court and in particular the SC.