One wonders what Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi — who said at a press conference that the ordinance seeking to overturn the Supreme Court verdict disqualifying MPs and MLAs upon their conviction should be torn to pieces and thrown out — was doing all these days. Surely, he must have been aware of the UPA government’s frantic efforts to get a bill passed in the monsoon session of Parliament. When they did not succeed, the government drafted an ordinance, cleared it and sent it to the President. Was Rahul not in the know of things?
The great tamasha will start now. I pity all those Congress spokespersons who defended the ordinance in front of television cameras and tried to convince the public. God help them! Or, should he?
A. Jaikrishna,
Secunderabad
What a dramatic change in the Congress’ approach to the ordinance! I am sure the Cabinet cleared the ordinance after a lot of deliberations. The BJP protested and presented a memorandum to the President asking him to reject the ordinance. The President raised a query on the need to promulgate the ordinance. The Congress seems to have changed its stance after that. As such, Rahul’s stand should have no bearing on the ordinance because he is not part of the Union Cabinet. But his view is bound to prevail. Will that not be humiliating to the Cabinet?
Danendra Jain,
Dehra Dun
One really wonders if Rahul Gandhi’s belated but blistering attack on the ordinance was a well orchestrated political stunt, as alleged by the Opposition, to salvage the party and the government’s image. Does Rahul expect the nation to believe that neither he nor his mother Sonia Gandhi was kept in the loop when the decision to go for the ordinance was taken? Why such a public condemnation of the ordinance by him after the President sought certain clarifications and the stiff opposition by the BJP and the Left? Did not Rahul’s ill-advised action undermine the authority of the Prime Minister who was in Washington all set to meet the U.S President? Who will take the PM seriously hereafter?
S.K. Choudhury,
Bangalore
None can disagree with what Rahul said about the ordinance. But the timing, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is out of the country, and the harsh language are in bad taste. My sympathies are with Dr. Singh who is not a politician but an obedient bureaucrat.
V. Tilak Subramanian,
Chennai
It was refreshing to see Rahul denouncing the ordinance meant to shield convicted politicians. It is ironic that the seniors in the Congress did not have the wisdom to appreciate the dangers of the ordinance. That said, one does wish Rahul had done this a bit earlier.
N. Nagesh,
Chennai
Rahul’s politics has left the Congress in a state of embarrassment. If he was genuinely against the ordinance, he could have done a far better job than storming into a press conference and blazing all guns at the government. His recklessness shows he is immature and not yet ready to be the Prime Minister.
Nitheen Sivadas,
Palakkad
