Congress sees ‘red’, blasts Modi over coalgate

Hitting out at Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi over the coal blocks allocation scam, the Congress pointed out that his hands are red — in an indirect reference on the killing of Muslims in the Gujarat riots.

Hitting out at Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi over the coal blocks allocation scam, the Congress pointed out that his hands are red — in an indirect reference on the killing of Muslims in the Gujarat riots.

On Saturday, Modi had taunted the UPA government saying that “black smoke” of the coal scam from Delhi is polluting other parts of the country.

“The hands of people lighting coal fire for cooking turn black. Our hands are black and yours are red. We are not afraid, nor do we mind if our hands get black while serving the people. They (BJP) should answer in whose service their hands turned red. It was due to henna or something else,” foreign minister Salman Khurshid said.

The BJP, meanwhile has sought PM’s clarification on all coal block allocations. The Prime Minister’s Office on Saturday had strongly defended the allocation of coal block to one of industrialist Kumarmangalam Birla’s companies in 2005.

Nitish Kumar’s JD(U), an estranged partner of the BJP, on Sunday demanded cancellation of all coal block allocations that has come under the CBI scanner. “Out of turn allocations were made. Big capitalists and politicians benefited from it. We demand that the entire exercise be scrapped with immediate effect,” party spokesperson K C Tyagi said.

Congress spokesperson Meem Afzal said the Supreme Court is monitoring the CBI probe into the coal block allocations and political parties should not create hurdles in it. “There is no need for everybody to express their views when the SC is monitoring it,” he said.