Bansal 'threatens' scribe, press club seeks apology

Chandigarh: Former railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal on Sunday had a brush with the media in Chandigarh, barely hours after returning from New Delhi where he quit from the union cabinet. The city press club has sought an apology from him. Bansal got furious when a media person asked him about the companies owned by his family. [caption id=“attachment_775819” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Former Railway minister Pawan Kumar Bansal. PTI[/caption] “I am not here to give you the definition of my family. You come inside and I will tell you,” Bansal told the media person. Bansal was interacting with the media briefly after his arrival in Chandigarh. Following this, the Chandigarh Press Club issued a statement, objecting to the remarks made by Bansal, who is the Chandigarh MP. “He (media person) has virtually been threatened by Pawan Kumar Bansal at his residence in Chandigarh. The Chandigarh Press Club has taken a serious note of this and it is highly unbecoming of a person of Mr Bansal’s stature to intimidate a journalist on duty. The press club demands an unconditional apology from Mr Bansal,” the statement said. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Satya Pal Jain also sought an “unqualified apology” from Bansal, while criticising the “highly derogatory and threatening language” used by the former railway minister with the media. “Bansal himself is responsible for whatever has come in the media during the last few days about the railways job scam and the situation in which the former railway minister finds himself today,” he said. Leaders of the Congress had gathered at Bansal’s residence to show solidarity with him. He told party leaders that he had nothing to do with the bribery scam involving his relatives. Bansal drove into Chandigarh Saturday from New Delhi with virtually no leaders and relatives being present at his house to receive him. He was forced to quit as railway minister on Friday after a bribery controversy surrounding his nephew Vijay Singla. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) arrested Singla on 3 May and recovered Rs 90 lakh from him which was allegedly paid to him by a senior railway officer to get a lucrative posting. This was followed by other exposures that Bansal allegedly used his official status to benefit close relatives and associates. IANS