New Delhi: Terming coalgate as a "bigger scam" than 2G, the Samajwadi Party on Tuesday demanded cancellation of coal block allocations and accused Coal Minister Sriprakash Jaiswal of taking arbitrary decisions.
"When the entire truth comes out, people will be surprised that it is a much bigger scam than 2G scam...the Prime Minister should take initiative in ordering a probe and cancel all coal block allocations," Samajwadi Party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav said in New Delhi.
The SP's stand on coal issue on the eve of its two-day National Executive in Kolkata assumes significance as the party leadership is likely to spell out its strategy for the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and its relationship with the Congress.
Attacking Jaiswal, Yadav said within an hour of assuming the office of Coal Minister, he allocated three coal blocks. "On such a big issue, no mind was applied. It only shows everything was pre-decided and the minister only had to sign on dotted lines," he said.
This is for the first time that the SP, extending outside support to UPA government, has so openly targeted a minister on the coal issue.
He said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Deve Gowda and IK Gujral regimes allocated three to four blocks during their time, while Jaiswal allocated three blocks in one hour.
"This shows the amount of bungling which the Congress leadership ignored," he said, adding that "with names of several Congress leaders cropping up, the issue was significant."
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