Pawan Bansal, Ashwani Kumar resign as Union ministers

Mangalore Today/NDTV

New Delhi, May 10: Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and Law Minister Ashwani Kumar drove up to the 7 Race Course Road residence of the Prime Minister this evening and handed letters of resignation. Mr Bansal had left, Mr Kumar is still there.

A few hours ago, Congress president Sonia Gandhi met the Prime Minister. That meeeting was followed by hectic activity at the PM’s residence all through this evening, suggesting a churn in the ruling party, which has been bushwhacked by scandal after scandal perilously close to the 2014 general elections now months away.

 
Senior minister Ghulam Nabi Azad visited the PM as did political advisor to Mrs Gandhi, Ahmed Patel. 

 

.Mr Bansal, who became the first Congressman to be Railways minister in October last year, was under tremendous pressure to quit after his nephew Vijay Singla was arrested last week for allegedly accepting bribe to organise a plum posting for a senior official in the Railways, which his uncle heads. The CBI is expected to interrogate Mr Bansal to follow up on allegations of his involvement in the case as new details are emerging in its investigations.
 
News of Mr Bansal being asked to go came first and the BJP, which forced an early end to the Parliament’s Budget session this week over its demand that Mr Bansal and Mr Kumar resign, said, "Pawan Bansal resigned under pressure... now what about Ashwani Kumar?"
 
News of Mr Kumar resigning came soon after. He is in trouble for having made deletions in a CBI report on its coal block investigations meant for the Supreme Court. The court has severely reprimanded both the CBI and the government for Mr Kumar’s actions.
 
The Law Minister has been accused by the Opposition of trying shield the PM. The coal scam is particularly sensitive for the government as the Prime Minister held the coal portfolio for a portion of the period in which coal block alllocations are being investigated.
 
Congress president Sonia Gandhi was reportedly not been in favour of either of the two ministers continuing in the government.  Both Mr Kumar and Mr Bansal are Punjab politicians and seen as close to the PM.