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being hurriedly withdrawn, shows that decisions are being taken keeping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.
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.
लखनउ. कल यूपी के सीएम अखिलेश यादव अपने मंत्रिमंडल का विस्तार
करेंगे. इसमें कुछ राज्य मंत्रियों को कैबिनेट मंत्री पद पर प्रमोट किये
जाने और दो नये मंत्रियां को शामिल किये जाने की संभावना है. 
