The National Advisory Council (NAC) chairpersonship, held till recently by Sonia Gandhi, would certainly be among the exempted posts in the proposed bill to end the office of profit controversy, Congress sources said on Wednesday.
NEW DELHI: The National Advisory Council (NAC) chairpersonship, held till recently by Sonia Gandhi, would certainly be among the exempted posts in the proposed bill to end the office of profit controversy, Congress sources said on Wednesday.
The sources said the Congress President has not revealed her mind on the issue and has left it to the party and the government to decide on the matter. It would certainly be exempted.
Earlier, Government sources said the NAC chairpersonship was not among the exempted list so far. Some 40 posts have so far been identified for exemption in the bill to amend the Prevention of Disqualification of MPs Act, 1959.
The bill amending section 3 of the Prevention of Disqualification of MPs Act, 1959, will be introduced in Parliament on May 16 with Union Ministers Pranab Mukherjee and H R Bhardwaj using the intervening period for consultations with political parties on the issue of posts to be exempted.
The NAC Chairpersonship had become subject matter of a political row after Gandhi was targeted by the Opposition in the wake of disqualification of Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan which held that the Congress chief faced "certain disqualification" for holding the post.
Gandhi quit on March 23 from both NAC as also her Lok Sabha seat.
It is being suggested that four options were being considered for the NAC chief's post -- one having Cabinet status, second not having such a status, third making it a consultant post and the last to change the nomenclature.
Even as the move to draft the bill was underway, former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has demanded abolition of the NAC.
JD(U) leader Prabhunath Singh, a known critic of Gandhi, on Wednesday wrote to Parliamentary Affairs Minister P R Dasmunsi asking him to make available a copy of the bill as early as possible to MPs for enabling a detailed study.
Several of the posts identified so far cover those held by Left leaders from West Bengal, where Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee has complained to the President against ten MPs including Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee for allegedly holding offices of profit.
The bill is being brought at a time when the matter has gained urgency in the light of Supreme Court's recent judgement, which had sent alarm bells among the over 40 MPs and 200 MLAs, including several Chief Ministers, belonging to various parties facing disqualification petitions.
The apex court has held that what is material is not whether a person actually receives any remuneration or pecuniary gains but whether the office he or she holds is itself of profit.
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