Government rules out resignation of Sushma, Smriti

New Delhi: The government on Wednesday ruled out the resignation of Union ministers Sushma Swaraj and Smriti Irani who are embroiled in controversies, even as Congress threatened to disrupt the monsoon session of Parliament if they are not removed from the Cabinet.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and IT Minister Ravishankar Prasad defended their cabinet colleagues during a press conference saying, “This is not UPA government” and “our ministers do not do all that their (UPA) ministers used to do”.

The latest to hit the government was a Delhi court order admitting a petition against Irani in a fake degree case, within weeks after Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje faced criticism for helping former IPL chairman Lalit Modi, who is facing investigations in India.

“This is not their



(Congress) government. This is NDA government. Our ministers do not have to resign,” Singh said when asked about Congress threat to disrupt Parliament session. As Singh dismissed the Congress demand, Prasad chipped in, “Let me add, our ministers do not do all that their ministers used to do.”

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said in San Fransisco that the government will “play by the rule book” on the Lalitgate controversy. In his remarks during an interview to PTI, Jaitley said that they would make sure that absolute standards of probity are maintained. Jaitley also said there is “no question at all” about the government going on the back foot on this issue, as it has done “nothing wrong”. On Opposition strategy to disrupt the Parliament session, Jaitley said Parliament is meant to discuss and not to disrupt business.