Lucknow: As
the ruling Congress backtracked on a controversial ordinance to
protected convicted lawmakers, Samajwadi Party leader Akhilesh Yadav
slammed what it called decisions taken with an eye on elections due in
May.
"The manner in which the ordinance was brought and is now being hurriedly withdrawn, shows that decisions are being taken keeping elections in mind. Because of the elections all ruling political parties are in a hurry," said Mr Yadav, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
The ordinance, which seeks to circumvent a Supreme Court order disqualifying convicted lawmakers by allowing them to stay on while a high court hears their appeal, is expected to be formally abandoned at a cabinet meeting this evening.
"The manner in which the ordinance was brought and is now being hurriedly withdrawn, shows that decisions are being taken keeping elections in mind. Because of the elections all ruling political parties are in a hurry," said Mr Yadav, the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.
The ordinance, which seeks to circumvent a Supreme Court order disqualifying convicted lawmakers by allowing them to stay on while a high court hears their appeal, is expected to be formally abandoned at a cabinet meeting this evening.
While Akhilesh Yadav was circumspect in his response to the government's retreat, a leader of his Samajwadi party warned that withdrawing the ordinance would be 'dangerous for democracy" and said the PM must decide whether his own position was higher than that of his party.
"If the ordinance is taken back, it will prove that in this country an individual is bigger, not the government," said Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Aggarwal, in an apparent reference to Rahul Gandhi, whose public denouncement of the ordinance as 'nonsense' set off a chain of events leading up to the expected withdrawal of the controversial measure.
"We support the ordinance because one can appeal to higher courts," said Mr Aggarwal, "why should leaders lose their seat only on the lower court's judgement?"
The SP leader questioned why the government was ignoring its own allies, "just because Rahul Gandhi had decided."
The Samajwadi Party, whose 22 MPs prop up Manmohan Singh's minority government, has been a capricious ally in recent times, criticizing the government on a range of issues while coming to its aid during voting on crucial measures in Parliament.
Akhilesh Yadav has said that the party will take a formal stand on the ordinance controversy in a meeting of its parliamentary board headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav.