-The Hindu "Charges of impropriety are unsupported by facts" Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday attacked the Comptroller and Auditor-General’s report on the coal blocks allocation during 2004-09, saying any allegation of impropriety was without basis and unsupported by facts. As Parliament has been paralysed during the past week with an unrelenting and combative Bharatiya Janata Party disrupting proceedings in both Houses and demanding his resignation, Dr. Singh chose to make a statement...

-The Financial Chronicle Finance minister P Chidambaram on Monday sa­id neither he nor his colleagues talked about “zero loss” in connection with the CAG report, as inferred in a cartoon in the August 27 edition of Financial Chronicle, and in a report in another daily. The FC cartoon showed him holding a paper that said “zero loss theory”. Chidambaram said the statement is being issued to set the “record straight”, and clarified that...

-The Times of India With the political logjam stalling key legislative business, civil rights activists feel that Parliament should be allowed to function to ensure that the government is held accountable. MKSS head and RTI activist Aruna Roy said that while the issue of corruption was important, Parliament should be allowed to run. "Corruption is a huge issue but there are other laws which will protect people's lives and cub corruption. Political...

-The Times of India The gloves are off within erstwhile Team Anna with one of its core members Kiran Bedi, conspicuous by her absence at Sunday's protest, coming out in support of the BJP in sharp contrast to her colleagues. In a statement on Sunday evening explaining why she did not attend the protest, Bedi said the activists "needed" the prime opposition party to put effective systems in place. This was in...

-The Hindu CAG’s concept of presumptive loss flawed: Chidambaram Upset at the “unreasonable” disruption of Parliament by the BJP on the issue of allocation of coal blocks and the CAG report, the government went on the offensive on Friday, terming totally flawed the Comptroller and Auditor-General’s concept of presumptive loss and maintaining that no loss took place because the coal was still unexploited. “The policy for allocation of coal blocks has been the...