Sonia Gandhi wants Bansal, Ashwani to quit: Reports

Congress chieft Sonia Gandhi has taken a serious note of the corruption allegations being levelled against two senior Congress ministers– PK Bansal and Ashwani Kumar - and wants them to quit.

Zee Media Bureau

New Delhi: Congress president Sonia Gandhi has taken a serious note of the corruption allegations being levelled against two senior Congress ministers –PK Bansal and Ashwani Kumar – and wants them to quit to save thye party from further embarrassment. Reports said on Wednesday that Congress chief is not keen on the two ministers continuing in the UPA government as it would badly hurt the party’s image. It is to be noted that the BJP-led opposition has sharpened its attack on the Congress party over the issue of corruption and pressed for the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and senior ministers Ashwani Kumar and PK Bansal. The second phase of the Budget Session of Parliament, which began on April 22, was adjourned sine die two days before its scheduled end. With the sudden curtailment of the session, key legislations like the National Food Security Bill and the Land Acquisition Bill could not be passed. The only business that was transacted was passage of the Finance Bill marking the completion of the budgetary exercise and the Railway Budget without any discussion after walkout by the Opposition. The government tried hard for passage of the Food Security Bill in the Lok Sabha but Opposition BJP stood ground saying it would facilitate its passage only if the Congress removed Bansal and Kumar. Rajya Sabha Chairman Hamid Ansari made a terse comment on the functioning of the House, saying the record of work done and not done in the second half of the Budget Session was in public domain and did not require any commentary. He also put three questions including has the balance between deliberation, regulation and accountability totally been lost and have the members of this body assessed the impact of frequent disruptions. The opposition has alleged that the Prime Minister is responsible for misappropriation in the allocation of coal blocks. While Bansal`s nephew was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for allegedly taking a bribe for the appointment of a member of the Railway Board, Ashwani Kumar has come under attack in the Supreme Court for vetting the CBI report on coal blocks` allocation. With Agency inputs