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Congress demands Yashwant Sinha's resignation

The Congress, on Monday, in the Lok Sabha demanded the resignation of Finance Minister Yashwant Sinha on "moral grounds" in the wake of alleged supply of election material to him in 1999 by Flex Industries, now facing CBI probe in a bribery case of a top tax official.

The matter was raised by Pawan Kumar Bansal (Cong) during Zero Hour who said the issue had cast a shadow on the functioning of the government and that Sinha should step down on moral grounds.

The issue found its echo in Rajya Sabha as well where Congress and Left party members demanded a statement from the Finance Minister to clarify the exact position.

Responding to members' concern, the government told both the Houses that Sinha would make a statement on May 15.

In the Lok Sabha, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pramod Mahajan said action has already been initiated against Flex Industries for alleged bribing of a senior excise official.

"I assure the House that investigation will be taken to its logical end," he said.

Taking a dig at the government, CPI-M leader Somnath Chatterjee remarked that the government was being "very accommodative" on the issue as "he (Sinha) is going".

Senior Congress member Arjun Singh in Rajya Sabha said serious allegations have been made against Sinha and a leading English daily has even given details of the despatch of special election material through Railways allegedly by Flex Industries chief Ashok Chaturvedi for Sinha's Lok Sabha election in 1999.

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