Gujarat Congress wants minister out, meets Mukherjee

New Delhi: Gujarat Congress leaders today met President Pranab Mukherjee and made a strong plea for dismissal of state Water Resources Minister Babubhai Bokhariya following his conviction by a sessions court in a case of illegal mining. The party leaders, led by Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Shankarsinh Vaghela, met the president and sought removal of Bokhariya from the post of a minister.[caption id=“attachment_914241” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Gujarat Water Resources Minister Babubhai Bokhariya. Image courtesy CNN-IBN[/caption] “We have come to petition the president against a government whose minister is convicted in a Rs 54 crore corruption case, a government of party which has 34 MLAs facing criminal charges and a government whose Director General of Police is absconding,” Vaghela told reporters in New Delhi. Gujarat Congress leader Shaktisihn Gohil said the delegation, in a memorandum to the president, demanded action against Bokhariya as Chief Minister Narendra Modi had “failed” to take action against him. “Never in the history of India or Gujarat has a public servant or a minister continued to hold his office even after being convicted,” Gohil said. Gohil hit out at BJP saying the party had made a “hue and cry” over morality issues when former railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal’s nephew name came up in a corruption case. “See the difference between words and actions of the party whose minister is continuing to be in office even after being convicted and sentenced,” he said. Gohil also flayed Modi’s development model contending that “if it was so good and clean why does he has to carry 32 MLAs of serious criminal background.” “Modi and moral can never travel together. He has been going around the country beating the trumpet of his so called development model. But if it’s so good and clean then why does he has to carry 32 MLAs of serious criminal background,” Gohil said. PTI