M A I N   N E W S

Ordinance outburst
Cong rallies behind Rahul, Cabinet to meet next week
Aditi Tandon
Tribune News Service

New Delhi, September 28
A day after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi dismissed the Cabinet-approved ordinance on convicted lawmakers as complete nonsense, the party and the government rallied behind him, indicating an early next week demise of the controversial legislative move.

The Union Cabinet is likely to meet on October 3 or 4 —after the Prime Minister’s return — to take a call on the possible withdrawal of the controversial ordinance on convicted lawmakers, whose fate appears to have already been sealed after Rahul's strong denunciation of it.

The pro-Rahul chorus on the issue was today led on the government side by Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath and ministers Jyotiraditya Scindia, Rajeev Shukla, and Shashi Tharoor and on the party’s side by general secretary Digvijay Singh, special invitee to the Congress Working Committee Anil Shastri, Delhi CM Sheila Dikshit and her son Sandeep, also the party’s national spokesperson.

That the ordinance is on the exit path after Rahul’s drubbing was evident from Kamal Nath’s remarks. “It is his (read Rahul’s) view and he has expressed the view of many many people in the party; obviously suggesting that the government should take a relook. The PM has said he will address the issue when he is back,” Nath said.

His junior in the ministry, Rajeev Shukla, went on to bow in deference to the “new direction” on the ordinance shown by Rahul. Stopping short of saying the ordinance was history, he said, “In the last six decades, there have been a number of occasions where the party has influenced the government to change its stand. That’s the party’s job - to show direction to the government, which always owes an explanation to the party because the party guides its policies…”

MoS HRD Tharoor voiced his “delight” at Rahul’s remarks and even tweeted in justification of the silence he had maintained hitherto. “For those who asked about my silence on the ordinance, I replied I had learned the hard way that speaking out of turn was not the right thing to do.” Scindia backed Rahul saying he had made the party line clear and removed all ambiguity.

With the government-party divide out in the open on the issue, Congress crisis managers rushed to pat Rahul on the back for his “bold anti-corruption stand”. While official spokesperson Bhakta Charan Das led the Congress’ complete U-turn on the ordinance saying Rahul had voiced the pain of the people and was a true national leader, Digvijay Singh lent political colour to the developments. “Rahulji punctures the balloon of BJP doublespeak…” said Digvijay, who was the first Congress leader to oppose the ordinance for the fact that it had no consensus as early as Wednesday.

Soon afterward, Milind Deora, junior minister in the IT Ministry held by Kapil Sibal, who piloted the ordinance as Law Minister, tweeted openly against the move saying. “Legalities aside, allowing convicted MPs/MLAs to retain seats in the midst of an appeal can endanger already eroding public faith in democracy.” Importantly, only three days ago, Congress spokesperson Raj Babbar had vehemently defended the ordinance as “pro- Constitution and not pro-convicts”.

That apart, the entire party line stood altered on Saturday with Anil Shastri, a Congress think tank member, openly asking the government to dump the ordinance.

“Rahul Gandhi’s condemnation of the ordinance makes the GOI stand untenable and it must withdraw the ordinance. The government must take remedial action to save its image in public eye,” he tweeted in Rahul’s support, hailing his stand as “bold”.

Cong downplays U-turn

* Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said Rahul expressed the view of “many many people in the party, obviously suggesting that the government should have a re-look into it”

* His deputy in the ministry Rajeev Shukla insisted that the party's job is to give direction to the government

* Power Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia backed Rahul saying he had made the party line clear and removed all ambiguity