New Delhi: Asserting that the government has been fully cooperating with the probe in coal scam case, Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari on Wednesday said an `irresponsible` Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) needs to restrain its utterances on a matter which is under investigation and being monitored by the Supreme Court of India directly.
"The entire matter is under investigation and an investigation that is being monitored by the Supreme Court of India directly. So, therefore, in a sub-judice matter where investigations are in progress, it is inappropriate for people to be commenting in the manner in which they have done. And if at all, they have something to say; at the appropriate fora, at the appropriate time, they would have their say," said Tewari.
"Suffice to say that government has been fully cooperating with the investigation, the government has provided all documents to the investigator. So, therefore, this unnecessary speculation and this tilting at windmills is something which needs to be avoided," he added.
To a poser on whether former Union Coal Secretary Prakash Chandra Parakh`s remarks that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should be held equally responsible in the coal scam case has given an ammunition to the Bharatiya Janata Party, Tewari said the main opposition party is a self-propelled and a self-firing automatic weapon which is unfortunately full of blanks.
"So, therefore, to expect anything else from the Bharatiya Janata Party expect irresponsibility would be expecting the sun to rise from the west rather than the east. So, therefore, I don`t think it is important as to what the BJP has to say because all that they have been doing is saying for the last ten years. But responsibility and propriety demands that in an investigation which is being monitored by the apex court, people need to be restrained in their utterances," said Tewari.
"And in so far the government is concerned, the government has been absolutely cooperative with the entire investigation process," he added.
The former union coal secretary earlier today said if the CBI considers a conspiracy in this case then the Prime Minister should be held equally responsible being the final decision maker.
Parakh, who has been named in the latest chargesheet filed by the CBI along with industrialist Kumar Mangalam Birla and his company, said there is absolutely nothing wrong in the decision.
IANS
