Ambika Soni should have resigned on Ram Sethu issue: Dhawan

New Delhi, Sep 17 (UNI) Senior Congress leader R K Dhawan today suggested that Union Culture Minister Ambika Soni should have resigned from the Union Cabinet owning moral responsibility for the Ram Sethu affidavit goof up.

''Ms Soni should have resigned on moral grounds whether Prime Minister Manmohan Singh or Congress President Sonia Gandhi accept it or not,'' Mr Dhawan, a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC), told mediapersons at his residence.

Mr Dhawan, however, did not take sides with Union Minister Jairam Ramesh, who had first raised the demand of resignation of Ms Soni in Kolkota on Saturday for the filing of the controversial affidavit before the Supreme Court by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on September 12 questioning the existence of Lord Rama and the Ram Sethu.

In fact, Mr Dhawan came out not only against Ms Soni but also against Mr Ramesh for going public over Ms Soni's resignation issue.

''Mr Ramesh should have taken up the matter with the Prime Minister or the Congress President. If they had rejected Ms Soni's resignation, then Mr Ramesh could have resigned citing difference of opinion,'' Mr Dhawan, who had been a close aide to Indira Gandhi and for some time of Rajiv Gandhi during their Prime Ministerial tenures, said.

Mr Ramesh, on Saturday, had said that he would have resigned from the Union Cabinet had he been the Culture Minister (in place of Ms Soni).

UNI