JAIPUR: The stalemate over an alleged sex scandal involving a Cabinet Minister continued for the second day of the Rajasthan Assembly's monsoon session on Tuesday. The Opposition Congress members staged a dharna in the House while demanding institution of a CBI inquiry into the incident and the Minister's resignation.

The business of the House, including Question Hour, was disrupted and the proceedings were adjourned thrice amid the bedlam.

The Deputy Chief Whip of Congress, Zubair Khan, raised the issue as soon as the House assembled, provoking a strong reaction from the treasury bench and causing pandemonium. The Congress MLAs insisted that the Minister was guilty and declared that they would not allow the Assembly to function until he resigned. Sanyam Lodha (Congress) affirmed that the victim of gang-rape had been forced to give a statement absolving the Minister of the charge.

A local Hindi daily had recently carried a report claiming that the Public Works Department (PWD) Minister, Rajendra Singh Rathore, had hired a woman to "entertain'' the Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs from Jharkhand during their sojourn in Jaipur in June this year. It alleged that the Minister and his associates had tried to rape the woman.

The Congress members staged a sit-in in the well of the House even after it was adjourned for the day. Attempts were reportedly underway to break the deadlock, but the Congress was stated to be unyielding on its demand for a CBI probe.

The Leader of Opposition, B.D. Kalla, later told reporters that the Congress would stall the Assembly until the issue was resolved to its satisfaction. The Congress MLA and president of the State Mahila Congress, Mamta Sharma, said the activists would hold protest demonstrations at district headquarters on Wednesday.

The BJP-led Government, in a damage control exercise, strongly refuted the charge and pointed out that an inquiry by a senior police official had established that the allegation was false and baseless.

The woman's husband and four others have since been arrested on charges of forcing her into prostitution.

The Home Minister, Gulab Chand Kataria, affirmed in a statement -- which was to be read out in the Assembly but was later released separately -- that the incident mentioned in the newspaper report never took place. "Mr. Rathore has no connection whatsoever with the alleged incident of sexual abuse,'' he said.

In another statement released to the Press on Tuesday evening, Mr. Rathore said he was ready to resign if he was proved guilty in a thorough inquiry by any agency.

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