PM responsible for losses in coal allocation: BJP

Former Union Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Bandaru Dattatreya on Sunday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should take 'moral responsibility' for wrongful loss to exchequer due to the coal scam.

Lack of a transparent policy and not adopting scientific methods in allocation of coal blocks to private firms has caused Rs 1.86 lakh crore loss to the exchequer when the prime minister was holding portfolio of the coal ministry, Dattatreya alleged while talking to reporters.

Dr Singh had held charge of the coal ministry during apart of period when coal blocks allocation was done and he had to accept responsibility for the scam, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader said.

Rejection of CAG report and adverse comment on it was an afront to the institution, he said adding that coal scam was bigger than other scams reported during the United Progressive Alliance regime.

Accusing the UPA government of failing to protect natural resources of the country, Dattatreya said the government was deeply seeped in  various scams and people of the country have been fed up with it as one  after another scam is being surfaced now and then.

Meanwhile, on the issue of a separate Telangana state, he said Andhra Pradesh party President G Kishan Reddy would stage a 'Satyagraha' in New Delhi on September 3 in support of the demand for introduction of Bill for separate Telangana, in the ongoing session of the Parliament.