Congress demands PM's resignation

The Congress on Saturday demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's resignation if he found himself “helpless” in securing the resignation of four women leaders of his party in key positions in the government.

The main Opposition also said: “Four women have left the most frank and outspoken man speechless.”

In the Congress' cross hairs were External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Smriti Irani, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Maharashtra minister Pankaja Munde.

“If the prime minister is helpless in securing their resignations, he should tell the people about his failure to ensure zero tolerance to corruption and offer his resignation,” Congress spokesman Raj Babbar told reporters here.

The Congress has kept up the attack on the Centre since Swaraj’s role in facilitating travel documents for Lalit Modi came out in the open two weeks ago.

Raje’s involvement in “Lalitgate” provided additional fodder to its campaign.

Congress strategists view this controversy as a “win-win” situation, as it has provided them an issue to target the government and take the sheen off its claims of being “non-corrupt”.
The Opposition party feels if any of these four women are sacked, they can take credit for their removal.

“If Modi does not take action, we are free to campaign against the corrupt government. In fact, it suits us if the ministers are not removed. We can step up the campaign against the government,” said a senior leader.

The Congress has already called the Modi government a “gathering of tainted leaders” and termed the BJP “Bhrashtachar Jagao Party”.

Taking a dig at the BJP and the Modi dispensation, actor-turned-politician Babbar cited the example of the Hindi film “Besharam” (meaning shameless), saying the film bombed at the box office despite a good star cast.

Babbar also took a jibe at the RSS, saying the outfit that projects itself as consisting of patriots and honest people was silent on the issue.

Earlier in the day, Congress spokesman Ajoy Kumar accused the prime minister of following “Raje dharma” instead of “rajya dharma” by shielding Raje and Swaraj.