[dropcap color=”#008040″ boxed=”yes” boxed_radius=”8px” class=”” id=””]T[/dropcap]he role of Finance minister Arun Jaitley in the Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) scandal is being compared to Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s alleged involvement in the coal allotment scandal. Both these gentlemen occupied top positions in the organization which were riddled with scandals during their stewardship. While Jaitley was President of the DDCA for nearly 14 years till 2013, Manmohan Singh held the coal ministry as Prime Minister for five years.
In fact, even while Jaitley kept slamming the former PM , his own NDA government opposed ex-Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda’s plea seeking summoning of Manmohan Singh as additional accused in a coal scam case, saying there was no evidence to show Singh’s complicity in allocation of the said coal block to firms of Jindal group. The CBI said their probe found nothing that showed that Singh did anything illegal.
While Jaitley stoutly defends his role on the DDCA scandal, claiming no probe has directly named him for the ‘loot’ in the cricket body, he had no qualms about seeking Manmohan Singh’s resignation when no probe had found him guilty of the wrong-doings in the coal allotment during his period.
Here are five statement of Arun Jaitley as the Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha on the coalgate scandal against Manmohan Singh. These will show the contradiction between what Jaitley preaches and practices.
September 1, 2012: Ahmadabad: Addressing the party workers in Ahmadabad, Jaitley said, “the prime minister is saying that he will prefer to remain silent on the allegations against him but he is directly responsible for the coal block allocation scam as he was heading the coal ministry (at the relevant time). http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/pm-manmohan-singh-directly-responsible-for-coal-scam-arun-jaitley/1/215690.html
October 18, 2013: New York: “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh cannot be kept out of the CBI probe into the controversial coal block allocation as he was the “competent authority” when the decision was taken, senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley said. Naming industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and former coal secretary PC Parakh by the CBI in its FIR sent a “very, very adverse” signal that investors and civil servants will face investigation for irregularities, while the “competent authority” in the case, the Prime Minister who held the coal portfolio, “will go scot-free”, Jaitley said. The Leader of the Opposition in Rajya Sabha said it defied logic that a secretary to the government who recommends a coal block should be made an accused in an FIR filed by the CBI but the minister who sanctions the blocks should be out of it.
“The competent authority was the minister, the minister in this case happened to be the Prime Minister,” he said. (PTI)
August, 27, 2013: New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley on Monday accused the UPA Government of shifting the blame to various state governments over the CAG report on coal blocks allocation, and termed Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh’s statement in this regard as an assault on the nation’s democratic institutions. “The Prime Minister’s statement is an assault on Constitutional authorities. It is not proper that the Prime Minister puts the blame on the states. Competitive bidding policy was proposed on June 28, 2004. States can’t decide on allocation of major minerals. The Prime Minister should not blame states for UPA’s failure. He must take moral responsibility and quit,” Jaitley told media.
http://www.aninews.in/newsdetail2/story70464/coalgate-039-pm-039-s-statement-an-assault-on-democratic-institutions-039-says-jaitley.html
August 24,, 2012: New Delhi: We want to compel this government, push it to a corner as the accountability standards for the Prime minister are higher than what they were for A Raja,” Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley said. Speaking to CNN-IBN, Jaitley said, “This government has used the corrupt, those being prosecuted under prevention of corruption act by misusing investigative agencies to manipulate the political class of this country.”
http://www.andhrayouth.com/viewnews.php?id=29356
Aug 22 New Delhi ( ANI ): Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Arun Jaitley on Wednesday demanded the Prime Minister’s resignation over the Comptroller and Auditor General’s (CAG) report on coal block allocations, and said the ongoing standoff that has paralyzed the parliamentary proceedings can be brought to an end if Dr. Manmohan Singh takes moral responsibility and acts accordingly. Jaitley said the BJP is firm on the Prime Minister’s resignation for he held direct charge of the Coal Ministry for three of the years under scrutiny. “The fundamental difference between the 2G spectrum allocation scam and the coal block allocations. In 2G, the Prime Minister was indirectly and vicariously liable; in this case five out of the eight years he himself was the Coal Minister. And such a huge and momentous loss has been caused to the government, there is no way he can escape the responsibility in this matter. Therefore, the BJP is firm on his resignation,” said Jaitley.
http://www.aninews.in/newsdetail2/story69623/coalgate-arun-jaitley-firm-on-pm-039-s-resignation.html
