Congress questions CAG’s credibility on coal report

New Delhi : The Congress Monday attacked the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), India’s official auditor, by questioning the credibility of its report on the coal blocks allocation.

“Is it a meeting of minds of the CAG and the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)… Is it solely a coincidence or there is more to it,” Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari told reporters here.

The CAG in a recent report said that private players had windfall gains worth Rs.1.85 lakh crore in the 142 coal blocks allocated by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government 2006-09.

“Is the CAG misusing its credibility… If it is so, the question is why,” Tewari asked.

The BJP did not allow parliament to function during the monsoon session by demanding Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s resignation over the issue and cancellation of the allocated coal blocks.

Tewari said it was unfortunate that another session of parliament had been washed out and said that it was the responsibility as much of the CAG as of the BJP.

“In the past 22 months, the CAG has been tossing presumptive, hypothetical and at times even mythical figures in the public domain which has made the public discourse toxic and which has created road blocks for governance and which has unnecessarily tarred the India story,.” he said.

According to Tewari, while in the 2G matter, the Supreme Court did cancel the 122 licenses, it was equally true that the apex court refrained from making any observation with regard to the Rs. 1.76 lakh crore presumptive loss computed by the CAG.

Replying to a question whether a parallel can be drawn between the former CAG TN Chaturvedi and the incumbent Vinod Rai, Tewari said history, if repeats itself once is a tragedy, if it does so twice, it is a farce.

“All that I would like to say at this moment is that the trajectory of coincidence is uncanny.”

He said a senior BJP leader had telephoned a CAG official before the report was tabled in parliament and asked the opposition party to dismiss the fact if it could.

He said the BJP did not allow the parliament to function but when it came to states ruled by it, the party adopted different standards with regard to the CAG report.