Cabinet kills bill and ordinance to protect convicted MPS, MLAS
Congress core group seals fate, PM Manmohan Sigh meets President, convinces allies
NEW DELHI: Five days after Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi went public and declared that the ordinance that sought to protect convicted lawmakers should be thrown away, the government did exactly that on Wednesday.
The week-long drama over the controversial ordinance that created a political storm came to a predictable end in the evening when, in a 20-minute meeting presided over by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the Cabinet reversed its September 24 decision aimed at overturning a Supreme Court judgment.
The Cabinet also decided to request the Rajya Sabha chairperson to withdraw the bill — the ordinance was largely drawn from it — that sought amendments to the Representation of the People Act.
While all public offices were closed on Wednesday to mark the birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, the Congress brass was engaged in a series of meetings through the day. A week, they say, is a long time in politics and no one would have known it better than the PM, who returned from the US late Tuesday, and his Cabinet colleagues when they met in the evening.
“We respect the diversity of youth, the Congress vice-president articulated his view. This decision sends a message that UPA has a government which is not authoritative,” information and broadcasting minister Manish Tewari said later.