The ulterior motive behind Sonia's defence of Manmohan in the Coalgate affair - Firstpost
Looks like the court chose a weak one out of the 200 odd allocations to prosecute Manmohan.
You know, gives much more reason to finish the collegium system as quickly as possible.
Looks like the court chose a weak one out of the 200 odd allocations to prosecute Manmohan.
The court has probably done Sonia Gandhi a favour by choosing the Hindalco case to accuse the former PM of showing undue favours. If this case falls through, the Congress will claim that there was no mala fide involved in the entire coal scam. The Hindalco case is unlikely to stand up to legal scrutiny. Reason: the Comptroller and Auditor General’s report talked about the opaque process of the Screening Committee, but in the Hindalco case, the Screening Committee’s decision was overturned and both the coal ministry and the PMO gave their own justifications for why the mine should be allotted to Hindalco.
At best, the court may find that it was a flawed decision, but mala fide will be difficult to establish as the PMO has already released all the files and letters relating to the decision. It has explained why it allotted the mine to Birla. No court can find an executive decision, arrived at after application of the mind, mala fide, unless there is proof of some hanky-panky – which the CBI did not find, and hence wanted to close the case.
By bringing in the PM into the accused category, the court has given Sonia Gandhi a huge reason to claim vindication for the entire coal scam if nothing is found finally against Manmohan Singh. And she can allege political influence in bringing Manmohan Singh’s integrity into question.
You know, gives much more reason to finish the collegium system as quickly as possible.