Left, SP, TDP demand fair probe into coal scam

New Delhi  :  Putting up a third front on the coal scam, the Left parties, along with Samajwadi Party (SP) and Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Friday staged a sit-in protest at the main gate of parliament house building Friday morning.

SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury, Communist Party of India leader Gurudas Dasgupta and TDP leader Nama Nageshwara Rao were among the leaders who sat for the protest.

The leaders sat at the gate from where MPs enter the Parliament House building, raising slogans demanding a fair probe and debate in parliament on the coal scam.

“If anyone is preventing the truth from coming out in the coal scam, it is the BJP. Skeletons will also come out from the BJP’s closet, so they are not allowing a debate,” Communist Party of India-Marxist leader Sitaram Yechury said after the protest.

The Bharatiya Janata Party has been stalling parliament over the coal scam, demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

The main opposition party has said it will neither allow parliament to function, nor permit a debate until Prime Minister Manmohan Singh resigns, owning moral responsibility for the scam.

SP leader Mulayam Singh, talking to reporters after the protest, said they would take to the streets with their demand for a probe.

“We demand that a sitting Supreme Court judge or the CBI inquire into the scam. If they don’t order a probe, we will hit the streets, the markets, go to the people. We have decided to take forward the struggle,” Yadav said.

Asked if this was an indication of the formation of a Third Front, he said: “This will continue, whatever you think.”

He also said that they wanted parliament to function and a debate to take place.

“Parliament should function, there should be a debate, and coal block licences should be cancelled,” he said.

TDP leader Nama Nageshwara Rao, meanwhile, alleged that the Congress and the BJP were both involved in many scams.

“Even in the iron-ore scam of Karnataka as well, both the Congress and the BJP were involved,” said Rao.

As the protest ended, Janata Dal-United leader Sharad Yadav also came to greet Yechury. He, however, refused to comment on the protest or the third front and said he came just to meet Yechury.

The parties came together after the SP chief called a meeting of non-UPA, non-NDA parties Thursday.