Coalgate: I am not above law, ready to face CBI, says PM

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke for the first time on the coal block allocation scam on Thursday while returning from China, saying he was willing to face the CBI or "for that matter anybody" as he has nothing to hide.

Also Read: CBI files fresh status report in SC on Coalgate

Manmohan Singh has been under Opposition attack in coal blocks allocation scam especially after the CBI named industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and former coal secretary PC Parakh in its 14th FIR in relation to the probe into allocation of a coal block to Hindalco.

Speaking on board Air India One, Singh said, "I am not above the law of the land. If there is anything the CBI or, for that matter anybody, wants to ask me, I have nothing to hide." He added that the clarification issued by the PMO last week on the decision to allocate a coal block to Birla-headed Hindalco in Odisha was appropriate and there was nothing wrong. Singh, who was the coal minister at that time of allocation, has been under attack by the opposition which has demanded he be questiioned by the CBI which is investigating the case.

Initially, Singh appeared to be reticent in answering a question on whether CBI should be given so much autonomy that an inspector of the agency would be allowed to question the prime minister. "Well, let me say, this matter is before the courts and I would not like to comment on it," he replied.

The Prime Minister also took questions on the various scams that took place under his nose. "I would not like to go into what is happening in the Supreme Court. It is the highest court of the country and I would not like to comment about the court as to what it does or does not," he responded. To a question whether the CBI cases and scams were casting a shadow on his legacy as the Prime Miniser, Singh shot back, "That is for history to judge. I am doing my duty and will continue to do my duty. What impact my 10 years of prime ministership will have, it is for historians to judge."

The Prime Minister even expressed confidence that the UPA government will sweep the general elections in 2014. "The country will be once again surprised by the results that will bring Congress back to power," he said. He also rejected a view that the Congress campaign has not been active while Gujarat Chief Minister and BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was rising in popularity because of a number of scams during the tenure of UPA-II.

"Well, I think the Congress party is quite active. I don't share the view that Congress party is not quite active enough. The BJP may have started early but it will also peak early. Slow and steady, I think, is a thing which sometimes works in public life as well. I am confident that the Congress party will come out victorious in the 2014 elections," Singh said.

When asked whether the various scams in UPA, price rise and resignation of two ministers have affected his credibility and helping Modi's campaign, the Prime Minister said, "First of all, I would say that the scams that you are referring to took place not in UPA-II but in UPA-I. After that we had a general election. The Congress party won in that election hands down and I am sure when the results of 2014 elections get out, the country will once again be surprised," Singh said.

He also expressed concerns over politics of hatred witnessed in the country and said such things cannot be accepted. Referring to Rahul Gandhi's speech in Rajasthan where he expressed a fear he will be assassinated just like his grandmother Indira Gandhi and father Rajiv Gandhi, Singh said: "The government will ensure there is no threat to Rahul Gandhi's life."