As Parliamentary proceedings ground to a halt this morning, BJP leader and Leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, categorically stated that they would obstruct Parliament from working until the Prime Minister resigned over his perceived role in the Coalgate scam.
“When the 2G scam broke in 2010, it was the BJP’s Parliamentary pressure that prompted A Raja to resign as Telecom Minister. Hopefully it will work again”, he said in an interview to the Times Now television channel, adding that Parliamentary obstructionism was a legitimate means by which the Opposition could pressure the government.
PTI
Jaitley also dismissed the possibility of a debate on the floor of the house, indicating that there seemed to be no middle path in the ongoing standoff that has paralyzed the monsoon session of Parliament.
“We are not interested in a debate. What is there to debate? The Prime Minister was coal minister during a time period where coal block allocations were given to private companies at the cost of the public sector”, he said.
The BJP leader was equally dismissive of the possibility of the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) looking into the CAG report.
“We do not want a discussion of the CAG report. We have had bad experiences on these discussions in the past with the 2G scam”, he said.
Jaitley’s sentiments were echoed by BJP leader Prakash Javadekar who said they had no faith in the PAC, after the way the government ‘scuttled’ its report on the 2G scam. “We are not disrespecting the house, the Congress by looting the country is disrespecting the house”, he said.
