New Delhi:
Law Minster
Ashwani Kumar attended a cabinet meeting on Thursday evening at the Prime Minister's 7 Race Course Road residence. Railway Minister Pawan Bansal did not.
"He (Pawan Bansal) didn't have any agenda for his ministry," Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said after the Cabinet meet.
Both Mr Bansal and Mr Kumar have been smeared by scandal and there is much speculation that their continuing in the government is now untenable. But a distinction seems to be made between the two. Mr Kumar is in the dock for an act of impropriety in asking to vet a CBI report on its coal investigation before it was submitted to the Supreme Court.
But Mr Bansal is caught in a corruption scandal with his nephew under arrest for allegedly accepting bribe to organise a plum posting in the Railways, which his uncle heads. CBI sources have also said that the agency will soon interrogate Mr Bansal to follow-up on allegations of his involvement in the bribery case, which will be ignominious for the government. CBI sources said the agency is acting on "grave suspicions."
Congress president Sonia Gandhi is reportedly not in favour of either continuing and has told the party, sources said, that "it is a matter of time." She is also said to be clear that Prime Minister image must be protected.
Both ministers are from Punjab and are seen as close to Dr Manmohan Singh and many in the Congress now believe they should be out of the government as the accusations that they face are hurting the image of the party and the PM.
The government is said to be looking for an "honourable exit" for the two ministers, which could come in the form of a cabinet reshuffle very soon.
Parliament had to be adjourned sine die on Wednesday, two days before the Budget session ended, as the opposition refused to allow the Houses to run till the two ministers resigned. The impasse and the early adjournment meant that the ruling Congress was unable to push through two of its most important Bills, both key electoral promises - the Food Security Bill and the Land Acquisition Bill.
The government has only months left of this term and will now have fewer opportunities to pass the populist bills before general elections.
An unambiguous victory in the Karnataka elections yesterday put an embattled Congress in a position of advantage after quite some time. It reckons that getting rid of tainted ministers will only strengthen that position and take the sting out of the opposition's attacks.