The spin doctors are back at work. Not long after Pawan Kumar Bansal and Ashwani Kumar — two ministers with oodles of muck on their face, the first for letting his nephew allegedly use his ministry in earning a fortune, and of course illegally, and the latter for scrutinising an under-investigation CBI report to allegedly ensure the prime minister’s name does not feature in it — resigned, Congress leaders are working overtime to put a spin on the taint.

If the former law minister on Saturday said his “conscience is clear” — leaving most Indians wondering what he does to cleanse the said conscience after the supreme court in as many words said no minister or bureaucrat should scrutinise, let alone vet, a CBI probe report, draft version or not — party seniors were trying to even take the moral high ground. “The Congress takes action — these things are not tolerated in the party under the leadership of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. History is witness to it. What has been proved from yesterday's action is that we don't believe in mere words," party spokesperson Bhakta Charan Das was quoted by PTI.

The Congress takes action? Sure it does. Only, 48 hours after the supreme court used the strongest of language to tick off the CBI for being a “caged parrot” at the hands of its political masters and allowing the “heart” of the coal blocks allocation scam report be changed.

History is witness to it? Sure it is. Only, history witnesses it all in a real slow-mo action.

The party doesn’t believe in mere words? Sure it does not. Only, it’s more or less words — or the lack of it — for the first couple of days since the supreme court observed on May 8 that a minister (read Ashwani Kumar) can ask for a report but can't interfere with the CBI probe.

Pardon me, though, but did the spokesperson mean the party leadership “took action”? Is he trying to say Ashwani Kumar and Pawan Bansal were sacked? Does he mean the late-night drama about resignation by the duo was only that, a drama?

Calling the minister’s resignation — or sacking? —"appropriate", Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh tried to cock a snook at opposition, saying "this has never been the character of the BJP", as quoted by PTI.

But how does that matter? Is the Congress responsible for minding its own business or that of the BJP’s?

Why were the ministers not asked to put in their papers immediately?

What happened between the afternoon of May 8 and late on the evening of May 10 that the two were finally made to resign?

Was the party trying to save them initially, failing which, and with mud sticking to the party and the PM’s image, they were sacrificed?

What exactly is going on? They were the law minister and the railway minister for grief’s sake, two extremely vital posts — does the country not deserve to know what was found against them for the party to finally drop the rotten apples?

Ashwani Kumar, though, takes the cake in dishing out garbage. Addressing the media for precisely five minutes — time enough to cook a packet of Maggi — the suave lawyer said, “I have done so (resign) to put an end to an unnecessary controversy in a matter which is before the honourable supreme court and in which no adverse comments have been made against me in any manner whatsoever. My conscience remains clear and I believe that I will stand vindicated because divine justice ordains that truth and justice will prevail.”

Cut the trash, sir. "It's a sordid saga that there are many masters and one parrot,” the country’s top court has said. Having been one of the gentlemen who saw the draft report of the probe, you are among the “many masters”, Mr Kumar.

"The heart of the report was changed on suggestions of government officials," the court has observed. Does the country’s former law minister want the people to believe that the CBI changed the “heart of the report” at the insistence of two joint secretary-level bureaucrats and the government’s law officers? If yes, doesn’t say much about the minister. You shouldn’t have been the law minister in the first place, sir.

Commenting on the law minister’s role, the apex court said that a minister can ask for a report but can't interfere with the CBI probe. You were the law minister at the time, Mr Ashwani Kumar. You can wait for divine intervention and vindication if you want to, but for now just cut the garbage and leave with dignity.