Is this a govt or drama company: BJP on Rahul Gandhi's ordinance comment

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday criticized Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi after he described the government’s controversial ordinance to negate the Supreme Court verdict on convicted lawmakers as ‘complete nonsense’.

BJP Vice-President Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi questioned whether the UPA is a government or a theatrical production.

Is this a government or a theatrical production? With such drama, the Congress will not be able to hide the government's failures…,” said Naqvi.

Rahul Gandhi earlier in the day said he personally felt that what the government is doing on the ordinance is wrong.

“It was a political decision, every party does it, and there is a time to stop this nonsense,” said Gandhi.

“It is about time that political parties mind and stop making these type of compromises. If we actually want to stop corruption then we cannot make these compromises,” he added.

The fate of the proposed ordinance to bypass the apex court’s ruling on barring convicted MPs and MLAs looked uncertain yesterday after President Pranab Mukherjee summoned Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Law Minister Kapil Sibal to seek a clarification.

The Union Cabinet had approved an ordinance to reverse the Supreme Court judgment mandating the immediate disqualification of lawmakers convicted for a criminal offence punishable with a jail term of more than two years.

The ordinance seeks to reverse the Supreme Court judgement that had not only disqualified lawmakers convicted of offences with two years or more in jail, but also barred from contesting elections.

The ordinance will allow convicted legislators to continue in office, if the appeal against the conviction is admitted by a higher court within 90 days.

In a landmark verdict delivered on July 10, the apex court ruled that MPs or MLAs shall stand disqualified from holding the membership of the house from the date of conviction.

“The only question is about the vires of section 8 (4) of the Representation of the People Act (RPA) and we hold that it is ultra vires and that the disqualification takes place from the date of conviction,” said an apex court bench of Justices A.K. Patnaik and S.J. Mukhopadhaya.

The apex court, however, said that its decision will not apply to MPs, MLAs or other lawmakers who have been convicted and have filed their appeals in the higher courts before the pronouncement of this verdict.

According to the provision of Representation of the People Act, a lawmaker cannot be disqualified in the event of his conviction in a criminal case if he or she files an appeal in the higher court.