File pic: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister and Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav
As the ruling Congress backtracked on a controversial ordinance to protected convicted lawmakers, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav slammed what he called decisions taken with an eye on elections due in May.
"The manner in which the ordinance was brought and is now being hurriedly withdrawn, shows that decisions are being taken keeping elections in mind. Because of the elections all ruling political parties are in a hurry," said Mr Yadav, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
The ordinance, which seeks to circumvent a Supreme Court order disqualifying convicted lawmakers by allowing them to stay on while a high court hears their appeal, is expected to be formally abandoned at a cabinet meeting this evening.
Other Samajwadi Party leaders attacked the PM and the government for the flip-flop.
SP leader Naresh Aggarwal warned that withdrawing the ordinance would be 'dangerous for democracy" and said the PM must decide whether his own position was higher than that of his party.
"If the ordinance is taken back, it will prove that in this country an individual is bigger, not the government," said Mr Aggarwal, in an apparent reference to Rahul Gandhi, whose public denouncement of the ordinance as 'nonsense' set off a chain of events leading up to the expected withdrawal of the controversial measure.
"We support the ordinance because one can appeal to higher courts," said Mr Aggarwal, "why should leaders lose their seat only on the lower court's judgement?"
The SP leader questioned why the government was ignoring its own allies, "just because Rahul Gandhi had decided."
Another key Samajwadi leader Azam Khan scathingly said about the PM, "The man who should never have been a village pradhan is pradhan mantri (Prime Minister). He owes his post to the Gandhi family so he will have to listen to what they say."
But SP sources said Mr Khan's comments do not reflect the party's opinion, especially after his recent dissent over the Muzaffarnagar communal riots, for which he targeted Akhilesh Yadav.
The Samajwadi Party's 22 MPs prop up Manmohan Singh's minority government from outside.