Activists of leftist parties stage a demonstration demanding the resignation of several BJP ministers in New Delhi yesterday.
IANS/New Delhi
The government yesterday rejected opposition demands for the resignation of a Bharatiya Janata Party minister and other leaders embroiled in charges of corruption and wrongdoing, as Prime Minister Narendra Modi called for a national consensus on the land bill.
“The question of resignation does not arise. No one has done anything illegal or immoral,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu told reporters after an all-party meeting here.
“There is no question of accepting any ultimatum from anybody,” he added, after the Congress pressed for the resignation of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj as well as the chief ministers Vasundhara Raje of Rajasthan and Shivraj Singh Chouhan of Madhya Pradesh to ensure the parliament session that begins today runs smoothly.
“Nobody can dictate terms to parliament. Parliament is sovereign,” Naidu said. “We are ready to discuss issues that the opposition wants to raise.”
Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad, who heads the opposition in the Rajya Sabha, the upper house, said he hoped Modi would announce the resignations of “scam-accused ministers” before parliament meets.
“Passing bills would (then) become very easy,” Azad added, giving a clear hint of the Congress strategy.
The Congress has been demanding the resignations of Swaraj and Raje over their alleged links with former Indian Premier League chief Lalit Modi, and of Chouhan over the Vyapam recruitment scam.
Addressing the all-party meeting earlier, Modi called upon all political parties to move forward on the land acquisition bill that has created a major national divide.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Rajiv Pratap Rudy quoted Modi as saying that the government was willing to accept all “good suggestions” from opposition parties on various issues.
He added that it was the collective responsibility of the parties to ensure a smooth functioning of parliament.
But after the meeting ended, it was apparent that the government-opposition divide on the controversial land bill was unlikely to go away.
“The Samajwadi Party ... will continue to oppose it,” its leader Ram Gopal Yadav said.
The meeting was attended by Azad, Ram Gopal Yadav, Janata Dal-United’s Sharad Yadav, Bahujan Samaj Party’s Satish Mishra and Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury among others.
Earlier in the day, activists of six Left parties staged a protest march to demand the resignations of Swaraj, Raje and Chouhan.
About 1,000 members of the CPM, the Communist Party of India (CPI), Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist), Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and Forward Bloc marched from Mandi House to Parliament Street.
“Modi promised a corruption-free India. First he should ensure a corruption-free cabinet and chief ministers in BJP-led states,” CPM leader Brinda Karat said.
In other developments, the BJP demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the payment of $976,630 in bribes allegedly to a former minister and officials in Goa by the New Jersey-based consultancy firm Louis Berger.
“We demand a full-scale CBI inquiry into how much more money was paid and to whom,” BJP spokesman M J Akbar said at a press conference.
“This is only the proverbial tip of the iceberg. And since the Congress is involved, we would like to know how much of this (money) was shared with the ruling family of Delhi,” he added.
“In this case, the finger points directly to Digambar Kamat, the former finance minister during the Congress rule in Goa,” Akbar alleged.
Louis Berger’s top officials have already pleaded guilty to offering bribes to the tune of $3.9mn to secure contracts in countries like India, Vietnam, Indonesia and Kuwait.
While the settlement announced by the Justice Department did not identify politicians and officials offered the bribes, the documents revealed that $976,630 in bribes was paid during 2009-2010 to then minister and other officials in Goa.
The consultancy firm was part of a consortium that eventually won a contract to execute a water and sewerage project in Goa.
