Sack MP minister facing arrest warrant: Congress to Governor

Opposition Congress today asked Madhya Pradesh Governor O P Kohli to sack BJP minister Lal Singh Arya in the wake of an arrest warrant issued against him by a special court in a murder case.
A court in Bhind last week issued an arrest warrant against Arya, who holds the portfolio of General Administration Department, in the 2009 murder case of Congress MLA Makhan Jatav. The court later stayed the warrant till June 3 on a plea made by the minister's counsel.
A group of Congressmen, led by Leader of Opposition Ajay Singh, paid floral tributes to former Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru at his statue on Roshanpura square on his death anniversary.

They later walked down to Raj Bhawan, where they submitted a memorandum demanding the sacking of Arya from the Cabinet.
The party leaders handed over the memorandum to the Governor's ADC in his absence, a Raj Bhawan official informed.
Singh said Arya has no right to remain in the government. "How can a person, who is an accused in a murder case, remain in the Cabinet?" he asked.

The Congress leader criticised Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan for not dropping Arya from his Cabinet.
Singh recalled that then Chief Minister Uma Bharti had resigned from her post in 2004 after a court issued an arrest warrant against her in a national flag case.

The Governor has powers to sack a minister in such matters, he said.
However, BJP spokesman, Rajneesh Agrawal said CBI, which is probing the case, has already given a clean chit to Arya and hence there was no question of his resignation.