New Delhi:
After Rahul Gandhi dismissed it as 'complete nonsense', the government, say sources, is set to withdraw a controversial ordinance protecting convicted lawmakers, a move the BJP said was directed solely at saving ally Lalu Prasad Yadav from disqualification.
On a day a court in Jharkhand convicted and jailed Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad in the 17-year-old fodder scam case, sources in the government said the union cabinet will meet on Wednesday to take a formal decision to withdraw the ordinance. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh returns from the US on Tuesday.
The BJP today said it was clear that the government had tried to misusing its constitutional powers to circumvent the Supreme Court order disqualifying convicted MPs. The ordinance would have allowed convicted lawmakers like Mr Yadav to stay on without voting rights or salary until a high court decided on their appeal.
"Today we have all understood why this Ordinance was brought. Its only object was to help a loyal UPA ally who was likely to be convicted. In the end justice has prevailed. Be you ever so high the law is above you," wrote senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley on his website.
The government had denied the allegation but adamantly pushed the ordinance despite criticism from the BJP as well as the ruling Congress's own members including union minister Milind Deora, until Congress number 2 Rahul Gandhi barged into a party press conference on Friday and dropped a political bombshell.
"Personally I think the ordinance is complete nonsense. It should be torn up and thrown away," Mr Gandhi said, embarrassing the Prime Minister while he was on a key foreign visit, besides leaving him open to domestic ridicule and calls to resign.
By vetoing the ordinance, Mr Gandhi also went public against a decision taken by both the PM and his own mother Sonia Gandhi before the cabinet cleared it and forwarded it to President Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday. The President had also called three union ministers and asked for clarifications.
"In the last six decades, there have been a number of occasions when party has got the government's stand changed. The party's job is to give direction to the government," said Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs, Rajiv Shukla.