BJP firm over ministers' resignation

The BJP on Tuesday asserted that it will not allow new bills to be passed unless the two tainted ministers – Pawan Bansal and Ashwani Kumar – resigned.

Bansal is under cloud in the “sale of railway posts” scam while Kumar is accused of changing the CBI submitted to the Supreme Court on coal scam.

“When they will be removed from the Council of Ministers or resign, only then will we let Parliament function and allow the Food Security Bill and the Land Acquisition Bill to be passed,” BJP leader Gopinath Munde told reporters here.

Congress, which made no secret of attempting to take advantage of the Food Security Bill, said BJP was only putting hurdles in the passage of the pro-people food bill, introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday. The government also wants to introduce the Land acquisition bill.

“Both bills are pro-poor and pro-farmer. Most of the issues in the bills have been settled at different stages of discussion. I appeal to the BJP and other parties to pass the bills. They should act like a responsible opposition,” Congress spokesperson Sandeep Dikshit said a press briefing.

“The Left parties are also opposing the bills along with the BJP,” he said.
“The resignations of the ministers are not connected to the bills. If they pass the bills, other political issues can be sorted out separately,” said Dikshit.

Congress insiders said they were open to passing the bills in the din but the point of concern was the large number (71) of amendments that the government has proposed in the Food Security Bill, as all of them have to be passed separately.