Too smug a response to Coalgate

Flush from a combination of factors working in his favour — a clean chit from the apex court on his role in the infamous 2G scam, restoration of the more glamorous finance ministership and the shunting out of Pranab Mukherjee — P. Chidambaram is back, voicing his views in dulcet tones. Where is the loss when coal is cocooned safely inside Mother Earth, he asked the opposition and the CAG with injured innocence. It has not occurred to him that the valuations of shares — the major underlying asset being coal, which was obtained for a song — of the steel and power companies benefiting from the government largesse shot up sharply, much to the joy of their promoters.

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