MASSIVE LOSS TO THE PUBLIC EXCHEQUER IS MASSIVE GAIN TO RULING PARTY
Following the exposure that "financial gains to the tune of Rs 1.86 lakh crore is likely to
accrue to private coal block allottees" Congress leaders are questioning the method of this estimate.
Congress leader Kapil Sibal after he took over the Telecom Ministry, had said the CAG's
estimate of similar loss in 2G spectrum allocation was not true; he even claimed that the loss to
the Government was "zero". P Chidambaram made the fantastic claim that since the coal was
still in the womb of "Mother Nature", there was no loss to anybody!
Now that under order of the Supreme Court the Government has to perforce resort to auction
of 2G license, the same radio waves are estimated to fetch the Government as per the estimate
of the telecom regulator and the reserve price fixed by the very same government over
Rs.3 lakh cores, almost 50 per cent more than what the CAD had estimated to be the loss to the
Government in the telecom scam.
The only difference is that the 2G scam could be attributed by the Congress to its ally DMK.
Now the misallocation of coal is directly under the Prime Minister's charge and he cannot
escape responsibility. In fact, all the dramatis personae in Coalgate Loot are Congressmen, starting
with the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh who was Coal Minister between July and
November 2004 and again between November 2006 and May 2009. MoS in the Ministry was
always a Congressman - Dasari Narayana Rao from May 2004 to April 2008, Santosh Bagrodia
thereafter, to be followed by Sriprakash Jaiswal.
Congress resisted the demand for cancellation of 2G licences for long till the Supreme
Court in its verdict on February 2, 2012 declared the licenses illegal and cancelled them en
masse. The apex Court could not have failed to note the BJP's vocal protest in the matter, particularly
its demand for a JPC that led to the entire Winter Session of Parliament in 2010 failing
to transact any business. There is thus full justification for the two basic demands of the
BJP that the PM should resign and the coal blocks should be de-allocated and auctioned. We
must keep in mind that after claiming "zero loss" in 2G, the Government has now fixed the
floor price of each 2G telecom circle at Rs 14,000 crore. So, the Exchequer will recover at least
Rs 1.26 lakh crore from the auction from the nine circles that are up for bidding. To fix the
responsibility for this scam an independent and impartial enquiry is called for. In the 2G case
already a criminal trial is on and the main accused is the then Minister. Why should different
standards be applied in this case?
Introduction
