FILE: Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani (Press Trust of India photo)
The Aam Aadmi Party, whose Delhi minister Jitender Singh Tomar was arrested on charges of faking degrees earlier this month, has said it will launch a nationwide protests if similar action is not taken against Union Education Minister Smriti Irani in the next three days.
It has also demanded the resignation of Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, who are caught in the Lalit Modi controversy, and has questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's silence on it.
"We give an ultimatum of 72 hours to the government for action against them. We had hoped Smriti Irani would be arrested by this morning. But that did not happen... If action is not taken against Ms Irani in the next three days, then AAP will hold demonstrations across the country," said AAP leader Ashutosh.
He attacked the Prime Minister saying, "There are people holding important government posts who are under the scanner, and yet he is silent," and added, "His silence is making him Manmohan Singh part 2," a reference to PM Modi's predecessor Dr Manmohan Singh of the Congress.
Ashutosh said his party saw PM Modi as a "helpless leader controlled by the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh", the BJP's ideological mentor.
On Wednesday, a Delhi court accepted a complaint that Ms Irani misrepresented her educational qualifications. The court has set its next hearing for August 28.
The case against the minister has been filed by a freelance writer Ahmer Khan who alleges that Ms Irani has made contradictory claims about her college education in documents filed in different years with the Election Commission.
Earlier this month, Mr Tomar, accused of forging college documents and a law degree, was arrested in what AAP alleges amounts to political vendetta. The party said that Mr Tomar was being investigated by a court for lying about his educational degrees and the action of the Delhi Police, which reports to the BJP-led Centre, amounts to gross over-reach.