Congress cries foul as 2 BJP MPs withdraw Lok Sabha questions

Two BJP MPs of the Lok Sabha, Balabhadra Majhi and Aparajita Sarangi, on Wednesday withdrew their question -- listed as the first of the started questions -- to the minister of mines about the details of bidding process of 13 offshore mining blocks across the Arabian and Andaman sea shores, the number of fishing community villages in the area and whether socio-economic impact assessment was carried out before the auction. The subsequent notification, as corrigendum, of the withdrawal of the questions triggered Opposition charges of a cover-up bid.

Outside the House, Congress MP KC Venugopal asked why the listed question of the two ruling party MPs "miraculously vanished" and wondered whether the beneficiaries of the auction included some industrialists close to the regime. He said: "We have persistently raised this issue -- the environmental dangers, the absence of socio-economic impact assessments, and the opaque auction process. On Wednesday, we were expecting the government to offer some clarity and accountability. But shockingly, after uploading the question list in public domain, the question was mysteriously withdrawn at the last minute without any explanation. Why was this question pulled out? This kind of procedural manipulation raises serious questions about the transparency and the state of our democracy".