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UPA's Black Friday: Ashwani Kumar, Pawan Bansal resign - The Times of India
NEW DELHI: In a day of high
drama, law minister Ashwani
Kumar resigned on Friday
following the resignation of
railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal. Ashwani Kumar was under fire from the
opposition after the Supreme Court came down
heavily on the CBI for allowing the law ministry
to vet the draft of CBI probe report on Coalgate. The apex court had questioned the credibility of
CBI probe into the coal block allocations scam and
has asked for a thorough and qualitative
investigation. Expressing strong displeasure at
govt's interference in the Coalgate probe report,
the SC said, "the heart of the report was changed on the suggestions of the govt officials." Commenting on law minister Ashwani Kumar's
role, the apex court said that a minister can ask
for a report but can't interfere with the CBI probe. Ashwani Kumar, in his resignation letter, said he
was resigning to put an end to "unnecessary
controversy" and "public perception of any
wrongdoing".
Bansal resigns
Earlier in the evening, a beleaguered railway
minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had resigned from
his post. This comes in the wake of a meeting
between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Earlier, Congress spokespersons have been
maintaining that government is "seized" of the
matter of continuance of Bansal. Significantly,
Bansal skipped a meeting of the Union Cabinet
last evening, that added grist to the mill that he
could be on his way out. The railway minister's nephew Vijay Singla has
been arrested for allegedly trying to fix the
promotion for a member in the railway board. Bansal's woes mounted when the CBI questioned
his private secretary Rahul Bhandari, a 1997-
batch IAS officer from Punjab cadre, in
connection with the alleged Rs 10 crore bribery
scandal. Bansal has denied any wrongdoing by
him claiming that he has no business links with Singla. The opposition had been gunning for the
ministers calling for their resignations and also
the resignation of the Prime Minister, who also
had the coal ministry portfolio under him when
most of the irregularities in the coal block
allocations took place.
NEW DELHI: In a day of high
drama, law minister Ashwani
Kumar resigned on Friday
following the resignation of
railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal. Ashwani Kumar was under fire from the
opposition after the Supreme Court came down
heavily on the CBI for allowing the law ministry
to vet the draft of CBI probe report on Coalgate. The apex court had questioned the credibility of
CBI probe into the coal block allocations scam and
has asked for a thorough and qualitative
investigation. Expressing strong displeasure at
govt's interference in the Coalgate probe report,
the SC said, "the heart of the report was changed on the suggestions of the govt officials." Commenting on law minister Ashwani Kumar's
role, the apex court said that a minister can ask
for a report but can't interfere with the CBI probe. Ashwani Kumar, in his resignation letter, said he
was resigning to put an end to "unnecessary
controversy" and "public perception of any
wrongdoing".
Bansal resigns
Earlier in the evening, a beleaguered railway
minister Pawan Kumar Bansal had resigned from
his post. This comes in the wake of a meeting
between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and
UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi. Earlier, Congress spokespersons have been
maintaining that government is "seized" of the
matter of continuance of Bansal. Significantly,
Bansal skipped a meeting of the Union Cabinet
last evening, that added grist to the mill that he
could be on his way out. The railway minister's nephew Vijay Singla has
been arrested for allegedly trying to fix the
promotion for a member in the railway board. Bansal's woes mounted when the CBI questioned
his private secretary Rahul Bhandari, a 1997-
batch IAS officer from Punjab cadre, in
connection with the alleged Rs 10 crore bribery
scandal. Bansal has denied any wrongdoing by
him claiming that he has no business links with Singla. The opposition had been gunning for the
ministers calling for their resignations and also
the resignation of the Prime Minister, who also
had the coal ministry portfolio under him when
most of the irregularities in the coal block
allocations took place.
