In a scathing attack on the government on the 2G spectrum auction issue, the Bharatiya Janata Party said low bidding has vindicated the CAG stand that not going for auctions in 2008 had led to a huge loss.
An advocate, who appeared for many telecom companies in 2G case, suggested that govt should ask SC to restore 122 licenses.
The prime minister, who is under attack over the allocation during 2005-2009 when he held the coal portfolio, has been waiting to make a statement since last week but could not do so because of disruption caused by Opposition, mainly BJP.
The government on Tuesday scotched speculation that the monsoon Session of Parliament will be curtailed and both the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha will adjourn sine die.
Rejecting the Bharatiya Janata Party's charge that bribes were paid to it in coal blocks allocation, the Congress on Monday dared it to make public any proof it had and asked the opposition party to "look within" as its former president had been jailed for graft.
As the Bharatiya Janata Party disrupted the Parliament on the coal block issue, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday attacked the party and dared it to have a debate in the House to let the country judge the truth.
Delhi airport has been losing money for the past six years because of the heavy interest burden on loans.
The United Progressive Alliance government in its robust defence has rubbished Comptroller and Auditor General's charges against the allotment of coal mines and its estimate of losses to the exchequer.
Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party paralyses Parliament on the allocation of coal blocks by the Centre, its own government in Chhattisgarh had come under attack from Comptroller and Auditor General for allocating coal blocks at 'abnormally low' rates that led to a loss of over Rs 1,052 crore.
Parliament's Public Accounts Committee on Thursday decided to examine the four latest reports of the CAG, including the one on coal block allocation, which are critical of the government.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Thursday said it would decide its strategy on the coal block allocation issue on the basis of a statement Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may make in Parliament on the matter.
A combative Sonia Gandhi on Thursday asked Congress MPs not to be defensive on the CAG report on coal blocks allocation and to aggressively counter the offensive launched by the Bharatiya Janata Party which is demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue.
Janata Dal (United), a key ally of the National Democratic Alliance, on Wednesday favoured discussion on CAG reports on coal block allocation and other issues instead of disruption of Parliament proceedings.
The Comptroller and Auditor General has found gross financial mismanagement and irregularities in the implementation of the National Rural Health Mission at almost every level in Uttar Pradesh.
The United Progressive Alliance is expected to put up a united face on Wednesday to counter opposition demand for resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the Comptroller and Auditor General reports on coal block allocation and two other issues.
Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh took a dig at Comptroller and Auditor General Vinod Rai on Thursday asking why does he not stop leak of reports from his office, a day after the latter deprecated the "brazenness" with which the decisions were being taken by the government.
Reliance Industries on Saturday said it had never contested the government's right to get the company's spending on KG-D6 gas fields audited by the Comptroller and Auditor General but hoped it will not be subjected to a performance audit."RIL has at no time contested the government's right to conduct an audit by any agency, including the CAG, as provided in Section 1.9 of the Accounting Procedure of the PSC," the company said in a statement on Saturday evening.
'Investigating agencies are not acting as independent authorities; they have stopped being neutral.'
The coal-gate involving Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in allocation of the coal mines to private parties is set to put Parliament on fire beginning its monsoon session on Wednesday as the CAG report is ready for presentation which will provide ammunition to opposition to fire at the government for the massive scam.
The erstwhile Bahujan Samaj Party government's decision to transfer over 500 acres of land to the Noida Authority in 2009 has resulted in a whopping Rs 2,600 crore loss to the state exchequer, the Comptroller General of India has pointed out.
India desperately needs to ugrade the armed forces's war-fighting capabilities and tackle the problem of ammunition deficiency if it is to fight and win on the battlefields of the 21st century, says Brigadier Gurmeet Kanwal (retd).
Keeping up its attack on the Comptroller and Auditor General, the Congress on Thursday said the auditor was "not competent enough" to decide on the loss to the government in the coal block allocation issue "just on the basis of presumptions".The party also said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was "clean" and no one could raise an accusing finger at him in the wake of the CAG report" and there has been "no error or wrongdoing".
After the 2G spectrum scam, the focus is now on the coal scam which has cost the exchequer a whopping Rs 1.86 lakh crore.
It observed that there is no record of the money meant for the welfare of construction workers.
"Our demand is that the PM and the government should resign. The CAG reports are not the only issue as there are so many complaints and cases of corruption. There are scams worth lakhs of crore of rupees but perpetrators are being protected. That is why we have decided that we will confront the government till the time it resigns and we will not stop," senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu told reporters outside Parliament.
The BSE benchmark Sensex recovered by over 88 points in early trade today after yesterday's losses on emergence of buying by funds and retailers, tracking a firming trend in Asian markets.
Flaying post-bid concessions to Reliance Power, the CAG on Friday said the Anil Ambani-led firm got undue benefit of Rs 29,033 crore (Rs 290.33 billion) when the government allowed use of surplus coal from blocks alloted to Sasan power plant for its other projects.
Politics over its critical reports on scams echoed in the 150th anniversary celebrations of the Comptroller and Auditor General on Wednesday when Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Public Accounts Committee Chairman Murli Manohar Joshi praised Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee for defending both the CAG and the PAC when they came under attack.
With the Comptroller and Auditor General reportedly accusing Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit of irregularities in awarding certain Commonwealth Games contracts, the Delhi government on Wednesday stoutly rejected the allegations, saying she never "intervened to favour" any firm and all due processes were followed in finalising the contracts.
Cancellation of 2G licenses by the Supreme Court clearly revealed a big scam and it was a "collective failure" of the government which "overlooked" warnings given by the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Central Vigilance Commissioner on the issue, Janata Party chief Subramanian Swamy said on Thursday. "Everyone had warned, including the CAG and the CVC, but the government overlooked it," Swamy said soon after the Supreme Court cancelled the 122 spectrum licenses.
Reacting to Comptroller and Auditor General reports on defence preparedness, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday said that the army has been given World War II vintage "toy-guns" to fight nuclear powers, an issue the government is "diverting" attention from by raising the differences between the Army chief and the defence minister.
Union Science and Technology Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh on Thursday declined to comment on the latest CAG report which is said to have indicted him over a land allotment in Mumbai.
An initial audit report estimating Rs 10.67 lakh crore loss to the exchequer on account of allotment of coal blocks during 2004 to 2009 without auction caused an uproar in the Parliament and was described as "exceedingly misleading" by the CAG himself.
The text of Telecom and Communications Minister Kapil Sibal's statement defending Home Minister P Chidambaram on his alleged involvement in the 2G spectrum scam, on behalf of the United Progressive Alliance government
The total income of seven political parties from unknown sources was Rs 2,512.98 crore in 2018-19.
The government on Monday firmly rejected the Opposition's contention that the CAG had indicted the Prime Minister's Office on the Commonwealth Games issue and insisted that constitutional processes must be followed before blaming anyone.
With the Opposition gunning for Sheila Dikshit, the Delhi government on Monday claimed that there was no indictment of the chief minister or any other political leader in the report on Commonwealth Games projects by the Comptroller and Auditor General. Noting that the government has gone through the report of the CAG, Delhi Transport Minister Arvinder Singh Lovely said it has neither indicted Dikshit nor any other political personality.
Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit was in the eye of a storm in Parliament on Monday with an agitated Opposition paralysing both the Houses demanding her immediate resignation over alleged irregularities in Commonwealth Games projects.
Pulling up the Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation (MTDC) for "failing" to develop tourist facilities, the CAG has noted that the number of foreigners visiting the state has dropped and those availing its infrastructural facilities were negligible.
With media reports of audit raking up a coal scam, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday said the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has clarified there is no report and maintained there was no need for him to clarify in Parliament.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances