NEW DELHI: Congress today stepped up the heat on the ruling BJP as it demanded the immediate resignation of Union Minister Smriti Irani over allegations that she supplied false information about her educational qualification.
A day after a Delhi court took cognisance of a complaint that the Human Resource Development Minister gave false details about her educational qualification, Congress held two separate protests in the city slamming the Narendra Modi government.
The party also hit out at the Prime Minister over his "inaction" against External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje in the row involving their alleged help to controversial former IPL boss Lalit Modi.
During the protests, Congress -- which has in little over one year lost power both at the Centre and in Delhi -- also vowed to expose the "real face" of Aam Aadmi Party.
Led by the party's Delhi unit chief Ajay Maken, scores of Congress workers gathered at Jantar Mantar for a demonstration which also saw an effigy of the prime minister being burnt.
"There are two frauds: BJP the bigger and AAP the smaller. In Delhi, we have the smaller one. While AAP has one Tomar, BJP has four fraud ministers. And these very parties talk of transparency. They have crossed all limits of shamelessness and their real face has come out," Maken said.
He also raised the issue of allegations against Maharashtra BJP minister Pankaja Munde and accused her of "playing with the health of children".
"There was competition between Sushma and Raje to help (Lalit) Modi. If the government does not take action, we will intensify our protests," he said.
The protesters also bore an effigy of Irani and placards inscribed with messages that mocked the "farce" of her academic qualifications and warned the government against "toying with education".
Meanwhile, workers of the party's women's wing, led by its chief Shobha Oza, gathered in front of the BJP headquarters and shouted slogans against Swaraj and Irani.
"The suit-boot ki sarkar stands for corruption, promotes corruption and stands for economic offenders. This is very evident. Our protests will continue from streets to the Parliament," Oza said.