BJP stocks up ammo to target govt in Parliament

Communal violence in Assam, alleged spectrum and coal bloc allocation scams, rising prices are some of the issues BJP plans to raise seeking to corner the government in the coming monsoon session of Parliament.

The Executive Committee of BJP's Parliamentary Party met in New Delhi on Monday to discuss the strategy for the monsoon session, which begins on August 8.

"In the coming session of parliament, BJP will be raising issues of general public concern such as the communal violence in Assam and "rapid corruption" unfolding as far as UPA government is concerned in relation to coal bloc allocation scam, spectrum allocation scam etc.," party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad told media persons after the meeting.

He said the party has decided to raise Assam clashes on the very first day of the session, contending the violence has not stopped as yet.

Referring to the recent GoM decision on fixing the base price of spectrum at Rs 14,000 crore despite a slump in telecom sector, Prasad said this reflects the fact Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal's assertion that there was no loss in allocation of 2G spectrum was "illogical".

"The loss estimated by CAG at Rs 1.76 lakh crore was correct," he said, adding "you deliberately caused a loss to the nation despite the recommendations of the officials" when the sector was booming.

Similarly, he said the party will be flag the issue of coal block allocation and the Aircel-Maxis deal, on which new Finance Minister P Chidambaram is expected to reply during the session.