
Buoyant after the conviction of Coal Minister Shibu Soren, the BJP is gearing up to take on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by reviving the issue of tainted ministers in his Cabinet.
8220;The PM must come to Parliament tomorrow and explain why he criminalised the council of ministers by inducting history-sheeters in to his team,8221; BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley said. The resignation of Soren, according to him, 8220;is the least that can happen8221;. The BJP leader recalled that the PM had cited his prerogative when 8220;we had objected to the inclusion of criminals in the ministry8221; and 8220;now he has to take moral responsibility for having misused his prerogative by shielding tainted ministers.8221;
He said Soren had to resign earlier when he was arrested in a murder case. However, he was brought back. 8220;Why did this happen? Who is responsible 8212; Sonia Gandhi or the PM?8221;
When reminded that senior BJP leaders like LK Advani and Murli Manohar Joshi too faced criminal cases, Jaitley said: 8220;These are political cases. We are talking about identified criminals 8212; people involved in murders and abductions.8221;
Earlier, BJP8217;s Santosh Gangwar and BJD8217;s BK Tripathy tried to raise the issue in the Lok Sabha while a discussion was underway on the Essential Commodities Act. 8220;We are hearing news reports that a Union minister has been convicted for murder,8221; Gangwar said insisting that the government 8220;appraise the House about the factual situation.8221;