PM's statement on willingness to face CBI meaningless: Yashwant Sinha

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Sinha has called Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's statement on willingness to face CBI in connection with the coal scam 'meaningless'.

"This statement is meaningless. If the CBI were to call him, how can he refuse? If the CBI does not record his statement, then it hits at the very root of the problem. So there is no question. The CBI has to question the Prime Minister," Sinha said.

Asserting that he is not above the law of the land, Dr. Singh on Thursday said that he is ready to answer any questions by the CBI as he has nothing to hide in connection with the ongoing probe in the coal blocks allocation scam.

'I am not above the law of the land. If there is anything that the CBI, or for that matter, anybody wants to ask, I have nothing to hide," Dr. Singh said onboard Air India One on his return home from Beijing.

The opposition has been consistently demanding to probe Manmohan Singh over his government's allocation of two coal blocks in Odisha to a firm owned by industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla.

The investigating agency, had earlier on October 15, filed FIRs against Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla and former Union Coal Secretary Prakash Chandra Parakh for alleged irregularities and criminal conspiracy in allocation of two coal blocks in Orissa in 2005.

They said that all accused have been booked for criminal conspiracy.

The case relates to the allotment of the Talabira-II coalfield in Odisha to Hindalco Industries in 2005.

The BJP have repeatedly held Manmohan Singh responsible and have demanded his resignation for an estimated loss of Rs 1.86 lakh crores to the national exchequer by the CAG in connection with the coal block allocation.