Ordinance is all but over for now

New Delhi: The fate of the controversial ordinance against disqualification of convicted lawmakers appears sealed with Rahul Gandhi on Friday slamming it as “complete nonsense” and which should be “torn up and thrown away”. Party leaders said that it was now a mere formality that the Union Cabinet withdraws the measure after the return of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh from the US. Congress general secretary Ajay Maken also gave indications making it clear “Rahul ji’s opinion is the opinion and the line of Congress... Now Congress party is opposed to this Ordinance. The views of Congress party should always be supreme.” Maken sidestepped questions on whether Mr Gandhi’s remarks meant a “rebellion” against the government or a public snub to Dr Singh and his government and whether it has now become a lame duck. “What Rahul Gandhi said is the most important thing... that this Ordinance will not help us fight corruption,” he said. Rahul’s ‘inner voice’ stuns PM, Congress The refrain in the party is “why should the entire Congress suffer for a lone Lalu and a Rashid Masood ” and that the strong sentiments of people and party workers made Mr Gandhi to denounce the ordinance. The verdict of a special CBI court in Ranchi in a fodder scam case has been fixed on September 30. The ordinance would help Lalu Prasad remain an MP. The other person who is set to lose his MP position is Congress’s Rajya Sabha member Rasheed Masood. He has been held guilty of fraudulently nominating undeserving candidates to MBBS seats allotted to Tripura in medical colleges across the country from the central pool. The quantum of punishment will be pronounced on October 1. Next: Congress, Govt have differed in the past too Congress, Govt have differed in the past too Although the Congress on Friday asked why should Prime Minister Manmohan Singh resign against the backdrop of party vice president Rahul Gandhi's strong comment on the controversial ordinance on shielding convicted legislators, it has made it clear that this is not the first issue on which the party and the government differ. The Congress party had distanced itself from the Indo-Pak joint statement signed at Sharm el-Sheikh. It had refused to endorse the joint statement delining the composite dialogue process from terrorism and the mention of Balochistan in it. The second incident was on the RTI Amendment Bill which seeks to keep political parties out of the ambit of the transparency law. The bill was sent to the parliamentary standing committee for greater scrutiny . Rahul Gandhi was said to be against the passage of the bill as people would not like political parties to be excluded from the Right to Information Act. The young Gandhi who has been staying away from joining power since 2004, has taken a stand on the lack of democratic functioning in the organisation and the practice of nomination culture. But his Friday's 'outburst' Lok Sabha elections ahead, raised questions about emerging power centres. Congress managers are finding it difficult to come up with a convincing answer on why the Centre issued the ordinance against disqualification of convicted lawmakers without the party's consent . A Congress general secretary said “the decision (about it) was taken in the core committee meeting but Rahul Gandhi is not its member.\" The question that remained unanswered during the day was why Gandhi did not raise the issue before party chief and the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi before coming out openly against it. The government could have withdrawn the ordinance if this was ‘properly conveyed' but then why the public snubbing, insiders asked. A section of the Congress feels Gandhi's aggressive stance against the ordinance would deflate the BJP's campaign. In fact, it has saved the Congress party from the embarrassment. Asked would the PM resign after the snub, they asked “why should he “ Although senior cabinet ministers from the Congress and allies are maintaining silence on the ordinance, second rung ministers are backing Gandi's line. Meanwhile respondiung to questions after Gandhi's sharp comment in the meet the press programme at the Press Club of India,the Congress general secretary and the AICC's communication department chairman Ajay Maken said “Rahul ji's opinion is the opinion and the line of Congress... \" Now Congress party is opposed to this Ordinance. The views of Congress party should always be supreme.“ Maken sidestepped questions on whether Rahul Gandhi’s remarks meant a “rebellion“ against the Union government or was a public snub to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his government.’