The Samajwadi Party (SP), which gives crucial outside support to the Congress-led UPA, has also demanded that Pawan Kumar Bansal must resign as Railways Minister following the arrest of his nephew in an alleged bribery case to fix top level promotions in the railway board.
Party general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav said Bansal must resign as minister.
“It is a serious matter and the government will try to protect him, but ultimately he (Bansal) has to go. He should have resigned,” Yadav told media here.
The UPA Government has earlier decided not to oblige the opposition by asking for the resignation of Bansal, whose nephew was arrested in a bribery case, as also Law Minister Ashwani Kumar, who is in the eye of a storm over the coalgate controversy.
On Sunday evening, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Manish Tiwari said: “As far as the rail minister is concerned, a probe is underway. He has welcomed the probe. We cannot pre-judge the issue till the investigation is over.”
However, Bansal has distanced himself from his nephew arrested by CBI in a case of bribery, and said that he had no business links with him and denied any wrongdoing.
Sixty-four-year-old Bansal, who was made Railway Minister in October last year, also sought an expeditious CBI inquiry into the issue.
“I have always observed highest standard of probity in public life and look forward to an expeditious investigation by CBI in the matter,” he said in a statement.
The CBI has arrested eight persons, including the Railway Minister’s nephew, V. Singla, for allegedly taking bribe to fix a top-level position in the government.
Singla was arrested in Chandigarh for accepting Rs. 90 lakh in cash from Manjunath, the conduit of Railway Board member Mahesh Kumar. Kumar was arrested in Mumbai soon after he arrived in the metropolis from Delhi.
The CBI has registered a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act and the IPC against them. The CBI also carried out searches in Delhi, Chandigarh and other cities in this connection. (ANI)