Babri: If Virabhadra Singh can continue in office, why should Uma Bharti resign

On Tuesday, Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu said that let the judiciary come to a conclusion first.

With conspiracy charges being pressed against Union Minister, Uma Bharti in connection with the Babri Masjid demolition case, in certain quarters questions have been asked whether she should resign. Sources in the government tell OneIndia that there is no question of her being asked to resign.

On Tuesday, the CBI court at Lucknow framed charges against Uma Bharti, L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi and nine others.

There is no law that states that a minister facing trial will have to step down. It is only in the event of a conviction will the minister have to step down and also not face an election for 6 years. It would also be relevant to draw a comparison to Jayalalithaa who did not step down as the chief minister of Tamil Nadu when she was facing trial in the disproportionate assets case.

On April 19 the Supreme Court had restored the case against the leaders. At that time, Uma Bharti had said that she had no problems in quitting. However her party has asked her to stay put.

On Tuesday, Union Minister Venkaiah Naidu said that let the judiciary come to a conclusion first. Without naming her, he had said that no minister will resign. This is a political case which was foisted on our leaders. I do not want to go in-depth into that now as the court is hearing the case. Our important leaders will come out without any problem. It will not stand the scrutiny of the law and after trial, they will come out with flying colours, he had also said.

He further said that if these charges were related to moral turpitude he could understand why a minister should resign. This is an agitation and a political case that has been going on for the last 20 years, Naidu further stated.

The BJP says that no such demand should be made. The party cited the example of Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virabhadra Singh. The Congress has let him stay in office despite him facing a DA case, the BJP said.

Finance and Defence Minister Arun Jaitley had said if the filing of a charge sheet was the criteria, then some Congress chief ministers will have to resign."There have been ministers, there have been deputy prime ministers. If charge sheet is the rule to resign, then just calculate, how many Congress chief ministers will have to go. There are very few left anyway, Jaitley said.

OneIndia News