Government should order probe into `Coalgate'

"We feel that just a letter from the PMO to Team Anna on `Coalgate' is not enough. A thorough probe is required. Even when the 2G Spectrum scam took place the PMO and Cabinet Ministers said there was zero loss", BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain told reporters.

He maintained that it was the BJP which exposed this scam when its MPs Hansraj Ahir and Prakash Javadekar raised this issue and went to the CVC.

"Only a Preliminary Enquiry has been ordered into the `Coalgate' scam. A simple letter from the PMO will not do. Why is the government afraid of an investigation. It should announce a full-fledged probe into the matter," Hussain said.

Minister of State in the PMO V Narayanasamy wrote to Team Anna on the coal mining issue, insisting that the charges raked up have come from media and are not based on facts.

Narayanasamy has said in his letter that the impression Anna Hazare has about CBI and its functioning is wrong. He also rejected Team Anna's demand for Special Investigation Team to probe allegations of corruption levelled by them. The PMO rejected the demand for setting up special fast-track courts for trying MPs accused of corruption.

"The country wants to know why the government is shying away from a probe," Hussain said.