The Congress today brushed aside demands for Railway Minister P. K. Bansal’s resignation saying it has become a “disease” of the Opposition to make such demands.
“For those who are demanding resignation, it has become a disease,” Congress General Secretary and head of media department Janardan Dwivedi told presspersons.
He said Bansal has himself given a clarification demanding a probe in the wake of the arrest of his nephew for allegedly fixing top-level promotions in the Railway Board.
“The Railway Minister himself has given a clarification and said that there should be a thorough probe into the matter. I don’t think we can expect any thing more from him,” Dwivedi said in a brief reaction to the developments surrounding Bansal.
BJP has demanded the sacking of the Railway Minister and a CBI prosecution against him with party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad saying that seeking pecuniary advantage by someone close to the Railway Minister and abusing the authority of the Minister is a “copybook case” for prosecution of Bansal. CPI(M) also has demanded his resignation.
The Minister’s nephew V. Singla was yesterday arrested by the CBI in connection with alleged bribery of Rs 90 lakh for fixing a top-level position in the Government.
Bansal, however, has distanced himself from his nephew, saying he had no business links with him and denied any wrongdoing.