Congress leaders obfuscate the issue of PM's questioning by CBI

Says predecessors of the PM and ministers who held the coal portfolio from 1993 to 2009 should also be summoned by CBI

Close on the heels of Parliamentary Affairs minister Kamal Nath’s categorical statement that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will face the CBI if summoned on the Coalgate scam; Information and Broadcasting minister Manish Tewari on Monday however sought to shift attention to the Opposition, saying on record, that predecessors of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and ministers who held the coal portfolio from 1993 to 2009 should also be summoned by CBI. The Congress party’s obvious attempts at obfuscating the issue of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s questioning by the CBI on the coal scam is striking; as it appears that there is a divergence of opinion among senior Congress leaders on this. 

The Prime Minister himself speaking to the media while returning from the G20 summit had alluded to the Opposition’ vociferous demands that he be questioned on the Coalscam, saying, “I am an open book”. “I have not prevented anybody from looking at my conduct.” He also added, “I have no desire to hide anything from Parliament, whether it is the coal matter or other matters. I have been as forthright as I can.” 

He however, critics say, stopped short of stating whether he would submit to questioning from the CBI. 

Manish Tewari today responding on this contentious issue said, “If at all it is being speculated with regard to the Prime Minister, then we must keep in mind that the coal allocation covers the entire period from 1993 to 2009 and during this period various other ministers, former prime ministers and leaders of other political parties have also held charge of the coal ministry". Tewari stressed, “This should be a principle which should apply across the board and they too should be questioned.” 

Tewari indicated that there was a deliberate attempt "to politicise things in the ongoing investigations".

It is significant that in the past, only former Prime Minister Narasimha Rao had been questioned by the CBI, but that too after demitting office, in connection with the JMM bribery case. 

The Opposition has been trenchant in its criticism of the Prime Minister accusing him of “running away” from Parliament to avoid answering pointed questions on the missing Coal files. The issue had also led to several disruptions in both houses in Parliament during the recently concluded Monsoon session. Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley had stepped up their attack on the PM after a news report stated that a CBI officer had not been given the go ahead by the CBI Director to question the PM in connection with the ongoing investigation in the Coal scam.

The Opposition sought to know why the Prime Minister was not being questioned and an FIR lodged on the "stolen" files. 

Senior Congress leader Kamal Nath subsequently raised eyebrows when he stated that PM Manmohan Singh will make himself available to CBI in the Coalgate investigation if a formal request is made.  He said, “If the CBI, let me say so very bluntly, if the CBI takes a decision that they need to speak to the prime minister on that, there is nothing wrong.” Then added for good measure that, “The CBI under law can question anybody and the prime minister is within the law, so if the CBI wants  to question him, find  that for the purposes of the investigation, they need to question him, the prime minister is part of the law.”

The Congress led UPA's attempts at answering queries on the PM's role, strangely seems to make more obscure rather than shed light on the issue.