BJP had backed the ordinance to protect convicted MPs, reveal details of meeting

mangaloretoday.com

New Delhi, Oct 3: A controversial move to protect convicted lawmakers from disqualification - scrapped by the government yesterday - had the backing of both the BJP and the Left less than two months ago, documents have revealed.

NDTV has accessed written details of an all-party meeting held on August 13, which claim that BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley had backed an amendment in law to allow convicted MPs to stay on, and so had the CPM.

 

CPM’s Sitaram Yechury had reportedly said that the government must seriously consider bringing in a constitutional amendment to annul the Supreme Court’s ruling of July that ordered instant disqualification of convicted MPs and MLAs.

All these leaders had slammed the ordinance brought by the government last week to override the top court’s ruling and allow convicted lawmakers to remain while their appeal was being heard by a higher court. The government yesterday withdrew the ordinance, after a series of meetings brought on by Rahul Gandhi’s comment last week that it was ’nonsense’.

Documents of the August meeting claim that Sushma Swaraj, the leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, had said convicted lawmakers should not be disqualified. She reportedly said they should not have the right to vote or participate in legislation. The government’s ordinance had factored in that view, allowing the MPs to stay on without voting rights or salary.

According to the meeting details, Ms Swaraj’s party colleague Arun Jaitley had also talked of the need for a constitutional amendment.

Sushma Swaraj has said she or her party never got any minutes of the meeting.

In her tweet last night, she slammed the Congress for "spreading complete falsehood" and said "we opposed the Bill. We opposed the ordinance. We called the ordinance immoral, illegal and unconstitutional."

She said the BJP had conveyed its opposition at a separate meeting with Law Minister Kapil Sibal in her chamber after a Bill to protect convicted lawmakers was brought in Rajya Sabha. "We made our opposition very categorical and clear. It was because of our opposition that the Bill was referred to the Standing Committee."

Reacting to the documents, the BJP today reiterated that it had always opposed the Bill and the Ordinance.