Congress today demanded the resignation of Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan following reports that kingpin of Vyapam scam, Sudhir Sharma, paid for the air tickets and other expenses of the Minister. The party also demanded immediate sacking of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan saying independent and impartial investigation into Vyapam scam will be possible only by doing so. Briefing media in New Delhi, party leader Jairam Ramesh said documents in public domain now prove that Mr Chouhan has misled on facts, protected the guilty, and refused to take action against the accused. <br/><br/>Citing an Income Tax report, party spokesperson Randeep Singh Surjewala alleged that the kingpin of Vyapam scam paid for undefined expenses of top political leaders including Mr Pradhan, BJP leader Prabhat Jha and Suresh Soni of RSS. The internal analysis report of IT Department in 2013 was based on diaries recovered in raids on Sudhir Sharma. It said the billionaire made payments for travel arrangements of important political personalities. <br/><br/> Reacting on this, Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan today dismissed the allegations levelled against him that a kingpin of Vyapam scam had paid for his air tickets and other expenses. Mr. Pradhan told media in New Delhi that he knew the accused Sudhir Sharma as he was an ABVP activist but insisted that it was the BJP office which booked his tickets whenever he travelled for the party's work. He said there is no question of his tickets being booked by Sharma.<br/><br/>BJP today rejected Congress demand for resignation of Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan following reports that a kingpin of Vyapam scam paid for his air tickets and other expenses. The party termed the allegations as baseless and false. Talking to AIR, BJP Secretary Shrikant Sharma said Congress is in habit of demanding resignation of BJP leaders and is making allegation out of desperation as it is passing through bad days. <br/><br/>Mr. Sharma said the entire case of Vyapam scam is being investigated by the CBI and now Congress should stop levelling wild allegations. Earlier, citing an Income Tax report Congress had alleged that the kingpin of Vyapam scam paid for undefined expenses of top political leaders including Mr Pradhan, BJP leader Prabhat Jha and Suresh Soni of RSS.