Coalgate: BJP rejects UPA Govt's 'zero loss' theory
Asserting that the UPA is losing the confidence of the people, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday rejected the government's zero loss theory on the allocation of coal blocks to private players.
Senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley accused the UPA government of misleading the people of the country.
"Once coal blocks are allocated, the right to mine today rests with those 142 private allottees and not with the Government of India. Even without actual mining, the government has lost control over those mines at a throw-away price. There is a huge opportunity cost," said Jaitley.
"I repeat and the Finance Minister of India must know better that there is a huge opportunity cost to the Government of India. The opportunity that the Government of India could have exploited now rests in the private hands. So, even without actual mining starting, the Government of India has lost control over the mines. The right to mine now belongs to private parties. The Government has already suffered the opportunity cost and the valuations of these 142 people have sky rocketed," he added.
Arun Jaitley, who is the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha, alleged that the UPA Government is being increasingly accused of having conferred windfall gains on private parties and a corresponding loss on the government, and added that this loss is substantiated by bodies like the CAG repeatedly.
Jaitley said Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal propounded the zero loss theory when 2G spectrum scam took place.
"These repeated propounders of the zero-loss theory must now realize that the UPA is losing the confidence of the people. If they pursue policies of this kind, then all I can say is UPA's continuation in power with this kind of a performance is really a zero sum gain for the UPA itself," he said.
Both the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha were on Friday adjourned till Monday.
The BJP-led opposition is sticking to their demand for Prime Minister's resignation over the CAG report on coal block allocations.
The BJP has held the Prime Minister, who then held direct charge of the coal ministry, responsible for what has been estimated as a notional loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crores by the CAG in coal block allocations, and demanded his resignation.
The CAG report on coal block allocations states that nearly 150 coalfields were allotted to private and state-run firms without transparency and objectivity between 2005 and 2009.
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