Targeting Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav over the removal of four of his aides from office, the Congress on Friday questioned whether the principle of moral responsibility still existed in Indian politics.Saying ministers should step down if their closest aides were removed over corruption, the party argued that both moral responsibility and political accountability demanded such action.Congress leader Jairam Ramesh drew a parallel with former Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri, who had resigned as the Railway Minister 70 years ago following a train accident in Tamil Nadu, describing it as one of the highest examples of ministerial accountability.Ramesh said, “Ministers must feel compelled to resign when “their closest of close aides” are dismissed over corruption, particularly when four such aides have been removed.”He said if the ministers were aware of the alleged wrongdoing, they were equally culpable, and if they were unaware, it reflected an even greater failure of responsibility.Invoking the principle of ‘raj dharma’, Ramesh said the time had come for ministers to uphold both moral responsibility and political accountability, recalling the phrase that was once publicly invoked by a former PM to remind the then Gujarat CM of his constitutional duty, in an apparent reference to then PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee and then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi.Ramesh’s remarks came after four senior aides attached to Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav were removed from office through separate government orders issued on July 3.Official sources said the government’s action was aimed at reinforcing transparency and accountability. “It was an internal decision to focus on accountability and transparency within the ministry,” an official said.