Govt may ask MJ Akbar to step down

​New Delhi: Union Minister MJ Akbar will take a call on whether to resign after being accused of sex harassment by seven women in the tide of #MeToo allegations in India, government sources said.

Government sources told several media houses that the government will hear Akbar's version after he returns from his trip to Nigeria. The government has passed on the onus of whether Akbar should stay or resign on the minister that Akbar should himself take a call on resigning, but the government has not asked him to resign. The government has also not asked him to cut short his official trip to Nigeria.

The Congress also questioned the silence of External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj on the matter. India Today journalist Geeta Mohan @Geeta_Mohan tweeted: "Govt Sources after serious deliberations at the top, decision has been arrived at that @mjakbar would be asked to resign (on personal grounds) once he returns from Nigeria. May return to party till his name is cleared. Reports @Rahulshrivstv.

Minister Smriti Irani joined a growing list of union ministers confronting questions about colleague MJ Akbar, who is abroad at a time sex harassment allegations have surfaced against him. MJ Akbar would be "in a better position to speak" on the allegations, Smriti Irani said, deftly parrying questions about whether the junior foreign minister would be asked to exit the government. 

"I think the gentleman concerned would be in a better position to speak. I appreciate that the media is accosting his female colleagues, but I think that it is for the gentleman concerned to issue a statement, not for me as I was not present there," said the Textile Minister.

A BJP party leader said the allegations levelled against the Union minister of state for external affairs were serious but added that there were several aspects to it, including that there was no legal case against him. Several opposition parties have demanded Akbar's resignation. 

Some BJP leaders are of the view that the charges against Akbar would do no good to the party's image in the run-up to crucial state Assembly elections and the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, more so when the party has gone on an overdrive to highlight the Narendra Modi government's "pro-women credentials". 

Incidentally, the women's wing of the saffron party will embark on a five-day relay marathon from Friday to publicise the pro-women schemes of the government.