Bansal, Ashwani must go: BJP

The BJP Sunday said it will keep pressing for the ouster of union ministers Ashwani Kumar and Pawan Kumar Bansal which, it hoped, will eventually lead to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh quitting.

Law Minister Ashwani Kumar is facing fire for vetting a CBI report on the coal block allocations scam, while the opposition is baying for the blood of Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal after his nephew was arrested for taking a Rs.90 lakh bribe from a senior railway official.

"We are putting forward this demand on behalf of the people of India. Whether it is Pawan Bansal or Ashwani Kumar, they are trying to save them because they know, as soon as these ministers are out, the prime minister will be in direct line of fire," Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ravi Shankar Prasad told reporters at a press conference here.

He also slammed the Congress for having double-standards when it came to allegations of corruption against allies.

"Are their two standards for corruption for Congress ministers and allies? A. Raja (former telecom minister and DMK leader) was made to resign, and that was the right thing to do, but why does Congress have this double standards," he asked.

Launching a direct attack against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, he said: "It was said about the prime minister that he is a great economist and an honest person. We have seen the state of economy, and why is it that India has become one of the most corrupt countries under his tenure."

"There is no morality left in this government," he added.

The BJP has been demanding the resignation of Law Minister Ashwani Kumar and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over the government's interference in a Central Bureau of Investigation report on the allocation of coal blocks.