BJP flays govt for 'railwaygate', demands Bansal be sacked

Charging that the govt is working for dealers and brokers where every decision is up for sale, BJP has demanded that Railway Min Pawan Bansal be sacked for the alleged involvement of his nephew in a bribery scandal.

Senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Saturday said the latest corruption charges in the government further reinforces their demand for the Prime Minister's resignation.

"This government is no more a government of middlemen. It is a government of dealers, brokers and middlemen, where every government decision is up for sale and you must be prepared to offer the price.

"Congress has reduced the government to a bazar where every decision is tradeable. This is very shocking and distressing state of affair," Prasad told reporters in New Delhi on Saturday.

He said each passing day is becoming more shameful for the government as the "railwaygate" scam has come even before the "embers of 2G and coalgate are yet to subside".

Bansal cannot absolve himself of the charges where his nephew has been arrested by CBI on Friday night for allegedly fixing a top level position in Railway Board, he said.

Shankar said under the Prevention of Corruption Act if any public servant abuses his position to obtain pecuniary benefit for himself or any other person, his is likely to be prosecuted and convicted.

"And the way the railway board membership promotion is the object of corruption in this case, pecuniary advantage by someone close to the railway minister... seeking that pecuniary advantage, abusing the authority of the railway minister is a copybook case of prosecution of Bansal," he said.

"Therefore, in addition to demanding his sacking, BJP would like the CBI must prosecute him," he said.

Prasad further appealed to the President to exercise his authority so that the Railway Minister is brought to book.

CPI(M) demands Bansal's resignation

The CPI(M) has demanded the resignation of Pawan Kumar Bansal as Railway Minister, saying he has to take moral responsibility for the high-level corruption in the railways allegedly involving his nephew.

"Though the Railway Minister may not have any direct link in the matter, he has to take moral responsibility for this high level corruption involving his relative and the highest body in his ministry, the Railway Board. Propriety demands that Bansal resign as Railway Minister," the party Politburo said in a statement in New Delhi on Saturday.

It also sought a probe "to uncover the full ramifications of this case and prosecute all those guilty."

The CPI(M) said the arrest of the Minister's nephew, Vijay Singla, "for accepting a bribe of Rs 90 lakh from a Member of the Railway Board is a shocking and serious matter."

It is reported that the amount paid was "part of a deal for Rs two crore to get a new post within the Railway Board," the statement said.