CM was against auction of coal blocks: Hariprasada

Raipur, August 22, 2012

Hitting hard at Chief Minister Raman Singh over CAG report on coal blocks allocation, the AICC general secretary and party’s state unit incharge BK Hariprasada has termed his statement political.

“The CM was rather against auction of coal blocks and had opposed it by writing a letter to Centre,” he said while he was interacting with the media at Mana airport before leaving for Kanker to attend the party’s day-long workers’ training camp on Wednesday morning.

Earlier, the CM had stated that the Centre ignored his objections and allocated coal blocks to unknowns. He had further said that the allocation should have been done through auction.

In response, Hariprasada said, “The CM is not a kid something significant would happen without his knowledge. The posts of Prime Minister and CM are constitutional and they have to function accordingly. The people holding such posts never work under any pressure. The Centre allocated coal blocks from 1998 to 2004 following all the rules. It was rather the CM who had opposed auction proposal.”

When sought his take our proposed expansion of PCC executive with appointment of a couple of new general secretaries, he said he would take decision on recommendations of state unit president Nandkumar Patel and CLP leader Ravindra Choubey. He further said that the party was primarily focusing in appointing new presidents for Raipur and Mahasamund DCCs.

When asked his stance over fasting by Agriculture Minister Chandrashekhar Sahu after his name was dragged into Chabilal Sahu suicide case and High Court directing judicial probe into the matter, Hariprasada said the minister had lost his wisdom. “In fact, all the BJP leaders have lost their wisdom,” he said.

Hariprasada was earlier accorded rousing welcome by the partymen. He interacted with the party leaders and media for a short while at airport and then proceeded to Kanker.