Sibal,Yashwant spar over coal block allocation,House gridlock

“Under the nationalisation policy,coal cannot be sold. Coal from the blocks allotted was never sold. So,who could have benefited? Why is there so much of noise? Did anyone sell the coal?” said the minister.

“There are huge investment in power projects,but no coal to feed them. Imported coal costs three times more than produced coal,” Sibal said terming coal figures as inputs costs for power and steel sectors.

Hitting back at the minister,Sinha said,“Kapil Sibal has reduced the level of the debate to the lowest level…. If he is talking about the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi,a point which we have always denied and which has been proven by courts of law,then it is not the pursuit of truth that he is indulging in,he is indulging in pure abuse.”

Meanwhile,BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar alleged that the entire Screening Committee mechanism was “manipulated” to benefit the ruling party and demanded from the Prime Minister to cancel all the coal blocks allotted to private companies during the UPA regime.