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The ruling Congress party today decided to ignore calls for the resignation of two ministers - Ashwani Kumar (law) and Pawan Bansal (railways) - over Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)'s allegations of impropriety and corruption, though evidence against them mounted. Instead, it rallied its MPs and ministers to tackle the opposition of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
As part of its resolve to not appear defensive, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) moved the food security Bill today. The land acquisition Bill will be moved tomorrow. The BJP did not attend the meeting of the Lok Sabha's business advisory committee, in line with its decision last week that it would attend no meetings called by the Speaker. Kumar and Bansal did not meet reporters.
Kumar - under fire for changing the contents of the CBI draft status report on the investigation into the coal block allocation scandal - was today tarred by CBI Director Ranjit Sinha's affidavit to the Supreme Court. The law minister and two officials - a joint secretary in the Prime Minister's Office and another in the coal ministry - had seen the draft report and suggested several "significant" changes, said the affidavit.
Bansal came under fire from the Opposition, which dug out records to refute the railway minister's assertion that he had no business dealings with his nephew, Vijay Singla, who was allegedly given a Rs 10-crore bribe by a member of the Railway Board for a more lucrative posting. The member, Mahesh Kumar, has since been arrested, along with Singla and several others who were part of the alleged conspiracy. Kumar, according to a PTI report, was sent to CBI's custody till Thursday by a Delhi court.
