The Opposition's demand for the resignation of Union Minister for Railways Pawan Kumar Bansal because his nephew has been caught by the CBI for accepting a bribe of Rs90 lakh for promising the appointment of Mahesh Kumar as Member (Electrical) in Railway Board, continues to be stoutly rejected by the Congress-led UPA on the specious argument that the Minister cannot be held responsible for the wrongdoing of his relatives.
I would like to draw the readers’ attention to Rajinder Sachar's article, “Politicians must take the blame”(November 19, 2012), which reveals that the plea of politicians of innocence in wrong acts done by those close to them was rejected way back in 1964 by the SR Das (former Chief Justice of India) Inquiry Commission, which was held against the conduct of Pratap Singh Kairon, the then Chief Minister of Punjab. If Kairon's failure to act was held as wrong, how can Pawan Kumar Bansal or the Congress president escape from a similar chargeIJ