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| Impersonation case: Rampal quits; Saroori likely to follow him under "pressure" | | | BHARAT BHUSHAN
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Aug 25: In the MBBS/BDS entrance exam impersonation case, while Rampal today resigned as the chairman of SC/BC cell of National Conference, works minister G M Saroori was likely to follow him under mounting pressure from within his own party.
As any probe, or action under law against Saroori by the government could have possibly led to the bitterness of relations with coalition partner Congress, the government did the right thing by handing over the case to CBI. Of the seven impersonators held from an examination hall of Jammu University on August 21 last, a girl and a youth had allegedly appeared for Saroori's daughter Huma Tabassum and Rampal's son Lovish Bharat.
Both Huma and Lovish aspired to become doctors, but their parents were alleged to chosen a wrong way for their admission to the Acharaya Shri Chander College of Medical Sciences (ASCOMS), Sidhra.Sources in NC said the party had turned hostile towards Rampal after his son's name figured in the impersonation racket.
Chief minister Omar Abdullah was also said to have taken a serious note of it and conveyed his displeasure to Rampal.
Rampal, however, said he was innocent and would cooperate with CBI.
"I am sure that my innocence will be proved during the CBI probe," he added.
He said he had resigned keeping in view the high moral standards laid down by the party and its leadership.
Saroori was, however, yet to announce his resignation from the cabinet.
His "resignation", whenever it takes place, is going to be the first political reverberation that will be felt in the Omar-led NC-Congress government.
Many of the Congress ministers and leaders, who did not want to be quoted, felt that Saroori should immediately put in his resignation papers on moral grounds.
Though Congress general secretary Prithviraj Chavan in New Delhi Tuesday asked Saroori to resign in the wake of the impersonation controversy surrounding his daughter, he today denied reports that the Congress high command had asked him to step down.
Through a press note issued by his personal section, he said there was no truth in such reports.
Saroori, who Tuesday left for Delhi from Srinagar, had a meeting with senior party leaders before leaving for Saudi Arabia today.He Tuesday dubbed the whole episode as a "misinformation campaign" by certain vested interests to tarnish his image and claimed that his daughter was doing her BA course in the Government Women College here.
The works minister, who has risen very fast up the political ladder with the blessings of his mentor and union minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, is alleged to have facilitated impersonation for his daughter.
Police have already made it clear that parents of the candidates for whom the seven accused sat in the examination hall to take the test were to be booked under section 120-B. A cabinet minister said MLAs and ministers were not above all morals and norms. They too needed to justify their acts at least to the people who elected them, he added.
He said PCC president Saifudin Soz was also seriously concerned over the issue and might ask Saroori to put in his resignation papers. |
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