India's Singh takes to Twitter to defend sale of coalfields

Prime minister shouted down in parliament makes his case in social media.

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh after being shouted down by opposition politicians in parliament in New Delhi. He described as “baseless” accusations his government lost the country billions overShow more

NEW DELHI //Having been shouted down by opposition politicians in parliament, India's prime minister took to Twitter yesterday to defend himself from a growing coal scandal, saying accusations that his government lost large amounts of money were baseless.

Parliament has been all but paralysed since the national auditor released a report two weeks ago saying the sale of coal blocks without competitive bidding was expected to net private companies windfall profits of up to US$34 billion (Dh124.78bn).

Manmohan Singh, the prime minister, stood in parliament yesterday to make a statement defending his government, but was drowned out by members of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) who were screaming: "The prime minister must resign."

His office instead posted his defence on Twitter. "I wish to say that any allegations of impropriety are without basis and unsupported by the facts," Mr Singh's office stated, adding that the auditor's observations were "clearly disputable".

A string of tweets went on to accuse the auditors of using faulty logic and disputable maths in their report.

Mr Singh also said that, as the minister in charge at the time, he would take full responsibility for the decision not to switch the government's method of allocating coal fields to an auction system sooner.

He tweeted, in Hindi, an Indian saying: "My silence is better than a thousand answers."

Speaking outside parliament, Mr Singh said: "Let the country judge where the truth lies."

Mr Singh's government has come under fire in recent years over a string of corruption scandals that has tarnished his image. While few have accused him of personal corruption, his government has been repeatedly battered by criticism of its handling of everything from the 2010 Commonwealth Games, to the sale of mobile phone spectrum licences in an irregular process the auditor said had cost the country tens of billions of US dollars.

The new report from the Comptroller and Auditor General looked into the sale of 142 coalfields since 2004. It said the sales procedure "lacked transparency and objectivity" and accused the states of deciding who should get which fields. It exonerated Mr Singh personally, even though he was running the ministry at the time, while he also held the prime minister's office.

The auditor blamed the government for not swiftly changing the procedures to allow for auctions of the coal blocks, which presumably would have brought in more money.

Mr Singh said in a statement to parliament that it was the opposition BJP that created the system for selling off the coal blocks when it was in power. He argued that the shift to auctions as described in the auditor's report would have taken years and could have damaged energy-starved companies and the Indian economy. He also said opposition-ruled states, which recommended the recipients of the coal blocks, had opposed changing the rules.

Government officials also said any estimate of government losses was impossible because the coalfields were unexplored when they were sold.

The BJP said it would continue to block parliament and demand Mr Singh leave office.

"He has only given a list of excuses. He is hiding the facts," said Prakash Javdekar, a BJP spokesman.

The opposition party also demanded that the coal block sales be cancelled and auctions be held for all the blocks in question.

The opposition has repeatedly paralysed parliament over the past two years in protest over the corruption scandals, slowing work on important reform bills.

Mr Singh said he regretted that he was not able to present his case to parliament. "I appeal to the opposition to come back to the House, to debate all these issues and let the country judge where the truth lies."