Cabinet finally withdraws both ordinance and bill on convicted lawmakers

New Delhi: Reversing its earlier step, Cabinet today decided to withdraw the Ordinance as well as Bill that sought to give protection to convicted lawmakers in the wake of public outburst against it by Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi.The Cabinet took the decision in a meeting of about 20 minutes which was chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.According to sources, in the cabinet meeting, NCP leader Sharad Pawar and NC leader Farooq Abdullah expressed their reservations over withdrawing the ordinance and said that the decision to withdraw the ordinance will be hugely embarrassing. But they added that they will stand with the decision of the Prime Minister on this matter. The decision capped a day of hectic activities which included Rahul Gandhi meeting the Prime Minister which was followed by a meeting of Congress Core Group headed by party President Sonia Gandhi.“The Union Cabinet unanimously decided that the Ordinance regarding certain aspects of the Representation of the People Act as well as the Bill (pending in Parliament) should be withdrawn,” Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari told reporters.The Cabinet had approved on September 24 the Ordinance which sought to negate the Supreme Court order of July 10 which ruled that any lawmaker would stand immediately disqualified if convicted by a court.The overturning of the decision came in the wake of Rahul Gandhi's trashing of the Ordinance as “nonsense”. He had said it should be “torn” and “thrown out”."The decision of the cabinet was unanimous," Tewari told the media."In so far as the bill is concerned, it is the property of parliament," Tewari said. He added that at an appropriate time, it would be taken back.The minister hastened to add that Wednesday's move should not be seen as undermining the authority of the prime minister, who was party to the earlier decision to go for the ordinance."Democracy is not a monolithic authoritarian system of government," he said. "We respect the diversity of views, and there was a view which was articulated by Rahul Gandhi."Tewari said Gandhi's outburst against the ordinance Friday -- he had dubbed it "complete nonsense" -- was possibly based on a "wider feedback which he had got"."Under those circumstances, the cabinet decision was reconsidered and it was decided that we would withdraw both the bill and the ordinance."There is absolutely no question of undermining the authority of the prime minister in a cabinet system of government."On the contrary, it demonstrates that you have a government which is not authoritarian in nature."If you look at it with a liberal perspective, it only goes to underscore the sensitivity we attach to (other) views."(With agency inputs)