Title - Samajwadi Party joins Opposition in demanding Pawan Kumar Bansal's resignation

The Congress has put its weight behind its ministers under fire and has decided that both Union Railway Minister Pawan Bansal and Law Minister Ashwani Kumar are not going to resign just as yet. Sources say the allies are also backing the Congress on both these issues, but the Samajwadi Party is demanding the resignation of Bansal.
"When non-Congress officials are caught, they are quickly investigated. But Congress ministers accused of corruption are protected. This is a serious matter and Pawan Bansal cannot be protected for long. He will have to be sacked," SP leader Ram Gopal Yadav said.
The Congress Core Group, which met on Sunday evening, decided to fight it out with the Opposition over the railway bribery and coal scam controversies. "I don't think it is in keeping with the canons of the Indian jurisprudence to pre-judge or pre-determine issues," Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Manish Tewari said. The core group decided that it would not buckle under pressure from the BJP and even risk adjourning Parliament early.

CNN-IBN has learnt of the inside story which led to the decision to back both ministers. There were inputs from the government that prima facie link of the railway scam cannot be traced directly to Bansal yet. Congress President Sonia Gandhi said damage must be contained and BJP must be replied to.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said the BJP isolated as most parties want the House to run and and are not asking for Bansal's resignation. It was felt that if Congress agrees to Bansal's quitting, then Ashwani would be next and the Prime Minister would be vulnerable. The PM said UPA allies agree that no minister needs to quit.
The BJP reacted strongly to Congress's no to the resignation of Bansal and Ashwani Kumar. "The way the Congress party is shielding its ministers is shocking. BJP demands that the President of India should dismiss this corrupt government to save the country," BJP leader Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.
Former Railways minister Dinesh Trivedi has hit out at Pawan Bansal saying that the buck stops with the top leadership. "It all depends on the top person and I'm not here to have value judgement on this case and ministers. Let the CBI come up with the truth. One has to be held accountable for the entire morality of the system concerned because you are at the helm of affairs and if something goes wrong you are answerable," Trivedi said