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Advani-led BJP delegation to meet Pranab over coal scam

September 11, 2012 23:21 IST
A Bharatiya Janata Party delegation led by senior leader L K Advani will meet President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday to discuss the coal scam. Advani will be accompanied by Murali Manohar Joshi, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley and they are expected to apprise Mukherjee of  Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's role as coal minister between 2006 and 2009.

The BJP has information about PM distributing coal blocks to powerful people, who were interested in coal allocation, said sources.

Advani and the other BJP leaders expected to push for the PM's resignation when they meet the President. They will also brief him about the circumstances under which they were forced to boycott the Parliament. 

The BJP will submit a memorandum that would expose how member of Parliament Navin Jindal's company was favoured, whereas Coal India was asked to look for coal blocks in the international market.

According to CAG report, the coal scam has been pegged at Rs1.86 lakh crore -- bigger than the 2G scam that landed cabinet minister A Raja in jail.

Bhartiya Janata Party leaders see this opportunity to win elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.

The party now plans to take the issue to the street and keep it alive till next general elections. The BJP announced its intention to further intensify the street agitation on coal scam. 

Onkar Singh