The Congress Core Group had a meeting in New Delhi this evening in the back drop of the arrest of Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal’s nephew by the CBI in a bribery case. The meeting was chaired by party Chief Sonia Gandhi. Besides her, the meeting was attended by Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh, Sushi Kumar Shinde, A.K.Antony, P.K.Bansal and Ahmed Patel.

Earlier, the Railway minister met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today and he is reported to have apprised him of his position following the arrest of his relative in a bribery case. Distancing himself from his nephew V. Singla , Pawan Kumar Bansal said, he had no business links with him and denied any wrongdoing. In a statement Bansal claimed that he has always observed highest standards of probity in public life and that nobody can influence his decisions. He also sought an expeditious CBI inquiry into the issue.

Special CBI Judge Swarana Kanta Sharma today granted 4 day CBI custody of V. Singla and 3 others. The others are Sandip Goyal, Dharmendra Kumar and Vivek Kumar. All the four accused were arrested by CBI which had yesterday registered a case against Mahesh Kumar, a Member (staff) of Railway Board, and seven other persons.

Opposition has demanded resignation of Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal following arrest of his nephew in the alleged bribery case to fix top level promotions in Railway Board. But, Congress has ridiculed the demand. AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi, said those who are demanding the resignation, have perhaps caught the disease of seeking resignations. He said, Bansal had himself called for full probe into the matter and nothing more can be expected from him.

BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad asked the President Pranab Mukherjee to exercise his authority to bring the Railway Minister to book.

NDA ally JD-U, however, backed Bansal, with party President Sharad Yadav absolving the Congress leader of any fault in the case.

Trinamool Congress leader Derek O’ Brien called the incident retail bribery as the scam had fewer zeroes.

Samajawadi Party said corrupt leaders should be suspended.In a statement, the CPI(M) said Bansal as Railway Minister should take moral responsibility for the corruption.