NEW DELHI, May 6 (IANS): Parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath on Monday told the BJP not to "lecture" the Congress on corruption and said railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal and law minister Ashwani Kumar would not resign.
"There is no question of their resignation. Did Nitin Gadkari resign as president of the BJP? The BJP should not give us lectures on such matters. Our government knows what is to be done and if there is any indictment, we will certainly take action," Nath said.
"As far as the law minister is concerned, the Supreme court will be hearing the case day after tomorrow (Wednesday). they have already filed affidavit," he said.
The law minister has been charged with interfering in a CBi report on the allocation of coal blocks.
"As far as the railway minister is concerned, if something emerges during investigation, the Congress will take steps," the minister told a TV news channel here.
Bansal's nephew Vijay Singla was arrested last week by the CBI for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 90 lakh. Bansal had issued a statement distancing himself from the incident involving his nephew.
Nath also slammed the BJP for being corrupt.
"The BJP should not talk about corruption. On Wednesday we will see the Karnataka election result. The people would have decided who is corrupt. The BJP will have no face, no answer after that," he said.
The minister also said that all efforts would be made to pass the food Bill.
"The food bill is an important and historic bill since Independence. The BJP wants to obstruct this because they feel that the Congress and the government will get credit for it," the minister said.
"We understand parliamentary principles. We don't need lectures or (anyone) to preach what is parliamentary procedure. Parliament is for every political party. This is not a BJP house, it is a house of every MP who has been elected," he added.
The UPA government on Monday tried to debate and pass the National Food Security Bill but could not as the opposition continued to disrupt the house over the coal blocks issue.
Won't allow bills to be passed amidst din: BJP
As the government tried to debate the Food Bill in the Lok Sabha on Monday, opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said they would not allow any important bill to be passed amidst the din.
"The way the government tried to pass the Food Security Bill today is an attempt to divert attention from the corruption of their ministers," Sushma Swaraj told reporters.
"We want a debate on important bills like the Food Security Bill and Land Acquisition Bill. But when the situation in Parliament is so tense that there is a demand for the resignation of the prime minister and other ministers, trying to get the bill passed in the din in condemnable," she said.
"If the government tries to pass the bills in the din, the opposition will protest," she added.
Food minister KV Thomas moved the bill saying it was a key UPA legislation that would give the right to subsidised grains to around 67 per cent of the population.
However, the BJP, Samajwadi Party and Akali Dal members disrupted the house over separate issues.