Union Tourism Minister Subodh Kant Sahai has refuted allegations against him for seeking favours in the allocation of coal blocks to a company associated with his brother. Addressing a news conference in New Delhi today, Mr Sahai denied any role in the allocation of two coal blocks to SKS Ispat and Power Limited in Jharkhand. The Minister maintained that his brother was on the board of the company as an honorary director.

Hitting out at the BJP, Mr Sahai said the party is making malafide allegations to try to malign his image by having started a false campaign against him.

The Minister maintained that his name was cleared by the Delhi High Court in the case filed on the coal block allocations. He alleged that some of the petitioners in the case were close to the BJP.

AIR Correspondent reports, Mr Sahai had written a letter to Prime minister Dr Manmohan Singh in 2008 seeking his personal intervention for allocatin of two coal blocks to SKS Ispat and Power Limited. Mr Sahai insisted that he had done so for the development of Jharkhand.

Clarifying his stand on the letter, he maintained that the Delhi High Court had observed that the letter had nothing to do with the allocation of coal blocks.