Bansal, PM should go over bribery case, says BJP

The BJP Saturday sought the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal after the latter's nephew was arrested for allegedly taking a bribe of Rs.90 lakh to ensure the promotion of a top railway official.

"We not only demand that Bansal be sacked, he should be prosecuted by CBI under 13 of Prevention of Corruption Act. If any public servant abuses his position to obtain benefits for himself or any other person, he or she is to prosecuted and convicted," BJP spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said here.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) Saturday arrested Bansal's nephew Vijay Singla and three others in Chandigarh for allegedly taking a bribe from the railway official. A total of six people have been arrested so far, CBI said.

Singla, a businessman who is Bansal's sister's son, his friend Sanjay Goyal and two others were being brought to New Delhi and will be produced in court.

Singla allegedly took Rs.90 lakh for the promotion of railway official Mahesh Kumar.

Kumar, arrested from Mumbai Friday night, was general manager of Western Railway when he he was made a Railway Board member Thursday.

Bansal, who returned to Delhi from Chandigarh Saturday morning, said in a statement that a "close relative" had been arrested but added that he had no business dealings with his nephew.

The Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson also sought the prime minister's resignation.

"The BJP is duty bound to reiterate that you please resign as the PM of India because you do not have any moral right to govern because India is increasingly getting established as the most corrupt regime under you," Prasaid said.

The BJP described the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime as a government of "wheelers and dealers".

"Every day new instances of shameful corruption are coming out. The embers of 2G and Coalgate are yet to subside, now we have railwaygate.

"This government is no more a government of the common man. It is the government of wheelers and dealers, and it is a government of brokers and middlemen."

He said the government was mired in controversies and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was himself "under a cloud of corruption".

"It is happening because the prime minister is under a cloud of corruption in coalgate.

"All the ministers are enjoying his and (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi's protection and are looting the country. What is happening in the railwaygate is a symptom of that," he added.

"The topmost assignment in the railway board is now being negotiated for sale."