Pawan Bansal

New Delhi, May 4: A shaken Congress leadership today grappled with an ugly scandal involving a top minister of the central government barely hours before a vital state goes to the polls.

The possible impact on the Karnataka poll overrode other concerns at the Congress core committee meeting held this evening at the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s residence to discuss the fate of railway minister Pawan Bansal whose nephew was yesterday arrested by the CBI for allegedly taking a bribe in connection with a top rail official’s promotion.

While Bansal presented his case, senior leaders agonised over the impact on voters in Karnataka of a screaming headline on the minister’s exit on graft charges.

Although there were indications throughout the day that Bansal was ready to quit, sources said after the core committee meeting that no decision had been taken.

The party, which defended the minister in the morning, chose to maintain ambiguity in the evening, without ruling out the possibility of his exit. There was speculation on Bansal’s explanation in Parliament before he quits, probably after polling in Karnataka.

Bansal, who was summoned to the core committee meeting, asserted that his nephew Vijay Singla or any other relative could not influence his administrative decisions and he was in no way linked to the bribery-and-promotion plot.

Though Bansal has a clean image and the leadership would have accepted his argument in normal situations, the crisis had come at a bad time when the Congress is faced with a huge credibility crisis.

The government was already in a fix over law minister Ashwani Kumar’s fate which depends on the Supreme Court’s verdict on May 8.

The BJP came down heavily on the Centre, declaring it a “cash-&-carry” government and most Congress leaders admitted the chips were really down.

Unlike in the case of Ashwani Kumar, the party came out to defend Bansal as many leaders felt the arrest of a relative cannot decide the fate of a minister. But others argued that the best course was to let the investigations clear the doubts in the public mind.

Earlier, Shashi Tharoor had to quit from the ministry because his then girlfriend Sunanda Pushkar, now his wife, was alleged to have received kickbacks in an IPL deal.

But party leaders were confused about the intentions of the leadership as spokesperson Janardan Dwivedi said at noon that Bansal had already given an explanation and nothing more could be expected from him.

This surprised many in the party and the Opposition as a mere explanation was not considered sufficient in a case where the CBI had established a money trail.

Dwivedi dismissed the BJP’s demand for the minister’s resignation saying, “some people have developed a disease of asking for resignation.”

But the dominant view in the party is that protecting Bansal in this environment wouldn’t be politically wise.