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On Friday, September 27, 2013, Rahul Gandhi, the Congress Vice-President caused tremors in the government when he rightly denounced the controversial ordinance to negate the Supreme Court verdict to protect MPs and MLAs convicted for serious crimes from immediate disqualification. He called it a “complete nonsense” and asserted what “our government has done is wrong”
Rahul Gandhi said that the arguments that “we need to do this because of political considerations. Everybody is doing this. The Congress does this, the BJP does this, the Samajwadi Party, the JD(U) does this … It is time to stop this nonsense, political parties, mine and all others … If you want to fight corruption in the country whether it is Congress Party or BJP, we cannot continue making these small compromises because, if we make these small compromises, then we compromise. … Now, I will tell you what my opinion is on the ordinance. It is complete nonsense, it should be torn up and thrown away. It is my personal opinion.”
This statement, a major embarrassment to the UPA government, caught Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who is now on a US visit, off guard. Gandhi, who had publicly called the ordinance to protect convicted MPs and MLAs from immediate disqualification as complete nonsense causing tremors in the government.
President Pranab Mukherjee is not in a hurry to give his assent to the ordinance that has come under attack from mainstream opposition parties and civil society and wants the government to explain the need for such an ordinance.
Under the Indian Constitution, the president must be satisfied as to the existence of circumstances which render it necessary for him to promulgate such an ordinance. He may seek legal opinion from experts before he decides on whether to give his assent or not.
A high-level BJP delegation led by L K Advani met President Mukherjee and urged him to refer the ordinance back to the government for re-consideration as it is “unconstitutional and immoral”.
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RELATED ARTICLES
- Tear and throw away Ordinance: Rahul Gandhi (deccanchronicle.com)
- Special: Power to reject them all (deccanchronicle.com)
- Voters Right to Reject all Candidates–Landmark Judgement By SC (allresourceupdates.wordpress.com)
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