Meanwhile, industry body ASSOCHAM has written a letter to the Prime Minister seeking his intervention.
TIMELINE
In an OP-ED column in The Hindu former CBI director, RK Raghavan writes:"What is still not clear, however, is whether the Coal Secretary fell in line after he had been spoken to by the PMO, or whether he was coerced. Equally important is whether he had brought on record any oral instruction received from the PMO. Only a scrutiny of the file would clarify this important point, and whether this was a case of the PMO simply overturning the Secretary’s recommendation and taking its own decision. We also need to know whether the Prime Minister’s ultimate approval was communicated in the form of a speaking order, or it was just a cryptic order that did not detail the rationale for the award in favour of Hindalco."
Centre STAGE
"In any case, the CBI has its job cut out here. Also, it cannot have anything other than a thorough and credible investigation."- RK Raghavan In the meantime in its letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, ASSOCHAM has sought his intervention to end the prevailing "environment of distrust" appeared due to "half-baked cases" against industry leaders.
"We find ourselves in a situation where half-baked cases are being slapped against top leaders of the industry and retired bureaucrats based on perceptions, interpretations and mere inferences."Reacting to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's statement on his willingness to face CBI, BJP says:
"This statement coming from the PM is a meaningless statement. If the CBI were to call him, how can he refuse? If the CBI does not record his statement, then it hits at the very root of the problem. So there is no question. The CBI has to question the Prime Minister."
- Yashwant Sinha, Senior BJP leader
