2 tainted mantris go in 1 day

2 tainted mantris go in 1 day Sonia Leans On Manmohan To Sack Bansal, Ashwani TIMES NEWS NETWORK  New Delhi: In swift and decisive moves, the Congress brass on Friday gave marching orders to railway minister Pawan Bansal, under a cloud after CBI arrested his nephew for taking a bribe for a railway board job, and law minister Ashwani Kumar, who has faced Supreme Court strictures for vetting and changing the CBI report on Coalgate.     It is learnt that Sonia Gandhi leaned on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to secure their resignations. The PM agreed to remove the duo – both seen to be close to him – after a 45-minute meeting with the Congress chief who, according to sources, had strongly advocated drastic measures to counter the softon-corruption image that has been bleeding Congress.      The sacking of two Union ministers on corruption-linked charges on a single day is unprecedented. While the axe was wielded because of growing opposition and public pressure, there is an impression that the Congress was also seeking to draw some political mileage out of an adverse situation. While the BJP was booted out in Karnataka two days ago for running a corrupt government, Congress is likely to brandish its newfound “intolerance” to corruption.     Already Congress leaders on the networks were ridiculing BJP “sermonizing” Congress on probity. A sustained campaign on this would escalate BJP’s cost of re-inducting B S Yeddyurappa in Karnataka as that would be seen to be welcoming back a “corrupt” leader. However, if BJP doesn’t bring him back, its prospects in Karnataka in the coming Lok Sabha election will significantly recede. Last time, Karnataka gave BJP the largest block of MPs from a state – 19.     Although Manmohan Singh had seemed disinclined to drop Kumar altogether from the Cabinet, he eventually gave in to Sonia’s insistence – and in every likelihood, her political game plan on corruption – on what party sources termed as “demonstrable” action against graft.     In their resignation letters to the President, Bansal wrote that he was unaware of his nephew’s contact with the Railway Board member while Kumar wrote that he was quitting to put an end to the controversy and public perception of wrongdoing.     The railway minister reached PM’s residence just before 9pm, and Kumar followed him shortly afterwards. Wellplaced sources indicated thatpetroleum minister Veerappa Moily and telecom minister Kapil Sibal were being considered for holding the additional charge of the law ministry. No decision has been taken on Bansal’s replacement in the railway ministry yet.     With the resignations in, Congress swiftly moved to claim the moral high ground, while questioning BJP’s commitment to probity. Party spokesperson Bhakta Charan Das said: “Congress stands by its commitment to fight corruption, and has never tolerated these issues. However, BJP has a lot to explain why it acted with such delay and reluctance against its former CMs in Karnataka and Uttarkhand, B S Yeddyurappa and Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank, respectively, and why there has been no action yet against Chhattisgarh CM Raman Singh who faces serious charges.”     The rhetoric could only escalate ahead of the forthcoming assembly elections and can set the bar higher for the BJP, while creating hurdles for any rapprochement with Yeddyurappa whose revolt contributed to the saffron party’s defeat in Karnataka.     Although the fate of Bansal and Kumar had looked fragile for quite some time, the die was cast soon after Sonia Gandhi drove down to 7, Race Course Road just after 5pm for urgent consultations with the PM at his residence.     The conversation happened against the backdrop of strong indications that CBI’s investigation into the auction of crucial jobs in railways could end at Bansal’s bungalow. The railway minister had earned the benefit of doubt on Sunday, with Congress’s core group, party’s elite decisionmaking body, giving some weightage to his argument that his maternal nephew, Vijay Singla, who is in judicial custody for taking bribes for railway posting, was not connected with him in any way. FRIDAY EVENING SHOW: GONE WITH THE WIND      Law minister Ashwani Kumar & railway minister Pawan Bansal quit after Cong chief Sonia Gandhi meets PM Friday evening     Oppn clamour, public outrage may have force d Cong to act, but Cong will now pit its ‘intolerance to corruption’ against BJP being booted out of Karnataka for corruption      Cost of re-inducting BSY in Karnataka goes up for BJP as he’s seen to be corrupt. No re-induction however reduces its chances in state in 2014 Lok Sabha elections  COUNTDOWN TO SACKING APR 12 Reports surface that Ashwani scanned CBI draft on Coalgate, toned down findings MAY 3 Railway minister Pawan Bansal’s nephew Vijay Singla arrested by CBI for taking Rs 90 lakh bribe for Railway Board posting MAY 5 Cong core group meets, rules out sack of Pawan Bansal & Ashwani Kumar MAY 6 CBI files affidavit in SC that law minister, PMO and coal ministry made signifcant changes in Coalgate status report MAY 8 SC says heart of Coalgate report changed by Ashwani & govt officials MAY 10 Sonia meets PM. PM agrees to remove Bansal and Kumar, both seen close to him PM was reluctant to let go Ashwani  New Delhi: However, the plausible deniability had worn thin by Friday as CBI investigations revealed that the accused – nephew Singla and Railway board member Mahesh Kumar, had met at Bansal’s official residence and used the phone at his Ashoka Road bungalow to conduct negotiations.     These details convinced the party of the need for a pre-emptive strike ahead of more embarrassing disclosures which look highly likely, instead of waiting for next week when it had planned to act.     The Prime Minister is understood to have been reluctant to let go of Ashwani Kumar. Sources said Singh had surprised many by picking Ashwani, a relative political lightweight, for the sensitive law ministry. It’s said that he had been seeming to draw a distinction between Bansal’s possible culpability in the alleged misdeeds of his nephew, and the case of Kumar. Government sources have maintained that the law minister could at worst be accused of having committed an indiscretion in seeking to protect PM’s interests in the Coalgate probe.     However, the Congress leadership maintained that the public mood was unsparing on corruption, and will not respect a nuanced reading of perceived guilt.     In fact, the leadership’s stand on Kumar’s position in the government appeared to have hardened after the SC on Wednesday said that the law minister might have subverted the investigation into Coalgate. Initial indications had suggested that Congress leadership could have let Kumar stay on as minister so long as his portfolio was changed.     The ante was raised after the SC order, with the leadership taking the view that his continuation in the government, even in a different role, would be detrimental to the party’s effort to counter the clamour for action against corruption.     Significantly, as speculation about whether the law minister was headed the same way as Bansal, Ahmed Patel, the Congress chief ’s political secretary, reached Prime Minister’s official residence for what the party sources called a crucial round of consultations.