BJP goes after Bansal, brings House to a halt

The BJP disrupted proceedings in both houses of parliament on Monday alleging the involvement of parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal in a shop allotment scam in Chandigarh, who hit back saying he was prepared to face any probe and dubbed the allegations as “cheap and baseless gimmicks.”

The BJP disrupted proceedings in both houses of parliament on Monday alleging the involvement of parliamentary affairs minister Pawan Kumar Bansal in a shop allotment scam in Chandigarh, who hit back saying he was prepared to face any probe and dubbed the allegations as “cheap and baseless gimmicks.”

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A visibly hurt Bansal said in Lok Sabha that the issue was “an effort to vilify me” and he would quit Parliament forever if an iota of the charge was proved against him.

Bansal charged leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj with misusing her position by levelling “baseless” allegations against him.

“I am really hurt. The allegations against me is the product of a sick mind. They are baseless and politically motivated. The leader of opposition misused her position by raising the matter against me,” he said.

As soon as the two houses met in the morning, BJP MPs raised the issue, forcing immediate adjournments for an hour. Rajya Sabha had to be adjourned again, but proceedings began in Lok Sabha at 12 noon, where Bansal was allowed to clarify his position.

Bansal said he had written letters for the allotment of some 8-feet-by-8-feet shops allotted to poor street vendors. “Make your own enquiry, have your members in that committee or order a CBI probe. I too would want a CBI probe to get my name cleared.” The minister said the probe “supposedly” took a year, but no one had approached him to hear his version.

Countering Bansal, Swaraj said a report on the allotment of small shops in Chandigarh had highlighted “glaring irregularities” in the process. She demanded a CBI probe into the matter.