Standoff on food bill likely to continue

NEW DELHI: The possibility of a debate on the food security bill in the Lok Sabha on Thursday appears dim. The main opposition, BJP, is insisting on a reply from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the missing coal files, before it allows Parliament to resume smooth functioning.

“We want the prime minister to respond to reports on the missing 257 files relating to CBI’s probe into coalgate,” BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Wednesday.

The missing files include those associated with the 13 first-information reports registered by the investigating agency in connection with irregularities in allocation of coal blocks when the prime minister held charge of the portfolio between 2006 and 2009, Prasad added.

The prime minister alone can shed light on the missing files, BJP general secretary Dharmendra Pradhan said. “The PM has to answer. He is accountable to Parliament and the country. He should identify the people responsible for the missing files,” he said.

Prasad said his party would not allow the government to take shelter behind the food security bill to shift the focus away from the functioning of the coal ministry under Singh’s charge. While Congress describes the bill as a “game changer” legislation, BJP says the bill is inadequate to handle the problem.