New Delhi, May 11: Law Minister Ashwani Kumar and Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal have been asked to put in their papers, a decision that came on Friday evening, after Congress President Sonia Gandhi conveyed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that their continuation would further muddy the image of the party and the government.
As indicated by ET in a report on May 10, the Congress leadership axed the two ministers in a move seemingly aimed at dispelling the impression of shielding the embattled ministers and savouring the much needed political bounce from the party's election victory in Karnataka. Both Kumar, who faces the charge of brazenly intervening in the CBI's investigation into the coalfield allocation scandal, and Bansal, who is embroiled in a cash-for-jobs scam, appeared to run out of the prime minister's stout backing after the Congress president forced his hand. Gandhi's intervention came two days after the government chose to end Parliament's budget session ahead of schedule amid the demand of the Opposition to sack the two ministers before debating important bills such as the one on food security. The government had refused to give in to the demand even as the budget session turned out to be least productive ever due to the gridlock.
The party brass can now use the vacancy at the railway ministry to appease Karnataka leader Mallikarjun Kharge, who lost out to Siddaramaiah in the election to the post of chief ministership earlier on Friday, a senior Congress leader told ET. Kharge is currently handling the labour portfolio at the Centre.
The main opposition, Bharatiya Janata Party, sharpened its attack on the government, saying if Bansal and Kumar had resigned earlier, Parliament's time would not have been wasted. BJP spokesman Shahnawaz Hussain questioned the prime minister for allowing the two ministers "to continue for so long despite the SC rap on one and the CBI tightening its noose around other".
Hussain said the government should have heeded the advice of BJP's Sushma Swaraj. "The leader of opposition Sushma Swaraj had said that both ministers should resign and then Parliament can run. But two days before the session was to end, it was adjourned sine die. The Congress must have thought it would get some respite but the BJP will continue its fight outside Parliament," Hussain said.
The PM was believed to have had reservation on dropping the law minister in particular because while Bansal faced charges of financial impropriety, Kumar faced the rap in an exercise that also involved the
Prime Minister's Office and the coal ministry. Recent reports have alleged that Bansal presided over a ministry riddled with corruption. The CBI's investigations into the case have been pointing to the involvement of the minister's kin as well as officials in fixing important appointments.
On May 3, the CBI had arrested railway board member Mahesh Kumar for allegedly paying Rs 90 lakh as bribe for a posting in the Railway Board. The negotiations were allegedly done through the minister's nephew, Vijay Singla.
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