Chandigarh: Former railways minister Pawan Kumar Bansal, who had resigned from his post a year into his job in 2013, following graft allegations, has said he was ready for any debate on probity in his public and personal life.
A senior Congress leader, Bansal is a four-time MP from Chandigarh and has been fielded by the party to contest from the city once again. Bansal ruled Chandigarh for three consecutive terms from 1999, before finally losing to BJP’s actress-turned-politician Kirron Kher by almost 70,000 votes in 2014.
As the union rail minister, he had to resign in 2013 following allegations that he had unduly favoured the appointment of a senior official of the railways, in a scandal then known as the Railgate.
Back in electoral politics, Bansal is confident of reclaiming the trust of the city.
“I will be happy for you to ask me any questions about Railgate,” Bansal told The Print in an interview.
“I am ready to take anyone head-on over that controversy and it is important for the people to know that nothing has come out of it,” said the 70-year-old politician. “But I believe that my opponents in the BJP are raking it up to turn this electoral battle into a free-for-all murky contest,” he added.
“I wish the elections in Chandigarh do not turn ugly. People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones at others,” he said. “There are so many things that I can also say about senior BJP leaders of Chandigarh but I wanted this contest to be clean without anyone hitting the other below the belt.”
Bansal also reiterated his call for a debate.
“I am ready to forgive Kher and anyone in the BJP for all the mistakes that they have made in the past five years in not doing anything for the city,” Bansal said. “Let these elections be fought only on one issue: Probity in public and personal life. I am ready to take on the opposition just on this ground.”
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Dogged by Railgate
Bansal had taken over as the union railways minister during the UPA regime in 2012. In May 2013, his nephew, Vijay Singla, was arrested by the CBI following charges of bribery for appointments in the railways. Bansal resigned following the allegations.
“I am a prosecution witness in that case. And I will be telling the court whatever I know of what transpired,” he said. “Nothing has come out against me during the entire probe by the CBI. My sons are businessmen. Their offices were raided by income tax authorities but nothing came out of it.”
Bansal is in full campaign mode, meeting people in various Chandigarh sectors even as his opponent has still not been declared. The BJP is having second thoughts about retaining Kher as its Chandigarh president Sanjay Tandon and former MP Satya Pal Jain are also in the race for the ticket.
Chandigarh votes in the last phase of the Lok Sabha elections, on 19 May.
“Five years of BJP rule in Chandigarh has been disastrous for the city. A city that was born to be a smart city has slipped to the 20th position in this Swachh Survekshan (annual cleanliness survey under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan) and 70th position out of 200 cities smart cities in India,” Bansal said.
“The city’s traffic problem has worsened and the metro project has been shelved. It has been replaced by a monorail project, which too has remained on paper for five years,” he said.
“Problems of the dumping ground and solid waste management continue to plague residents and Mrs Kher has nothing to show in the name of development,” he added.
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