NCP, NC, RLD oppose Rahul, Cabinet to review ordinance on convicted MPs, MLAs today

New Delhi: The fate of the controversial ordinance on convicted lawmakers is expected to be sealed at the meeting of the Union Cabinet today with Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi having attacked the measure and the government.Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who returned from a foreign visit, will preside over the Cabinet after meeting President Pranab Mukherjee, who is said to have reservations over the move to provide immunity to MPs and MLAs from immediate disqualification overriding a Supreme Court judgement on the issue.The Cabinet meet will be preceded by a meeting of the Congress core group that includes party chief Sonia Gandhi, the Prime Minister and top ministers. Law Minister Kapil Sibal may be called to the meeting.The Cabinet note for todays's meeting talks of two options -- await the promulgation of the ordinance by the President or withdraw it.However, all indications from government and party sources are that the Cabinet may have no option but to withdraw it in the wake of strong attack on it by Rahul Gandhi last week who had dubbed it as "complete nonsense" and should be "torn up and thrown away".The note to the Cabinet, before which the ordinance is the only agenda for today as of now, also speaks of deferring to the "sentiments of the public at large" on the issue. The note says that the recommendations of Parliamentary Standing Committee on Law and Personnel, before which a bill introduced in Parliament on the lines of the ordinance is pending, can be considered by Parliament when it comes with its report.The Ordinance is currently before the President, who is said to have raised queries with three ministers he had called last week because of certain reservations. The President is leaving on a foreign tour today afternoon.The Prime Minister has already said that his government is "seized of all the developments" regarding the ordinance and the issues raised will be considered on his return from the US after due deliberations in the Cabinet.Though withdrawal of the ordinance appears to be a fait accompli given Rahul Gandhi's public stand, the feeling among some of the ministers, including those from UPA allies, is that the whole controversy would have been avoided if only the Congress Vice-President conveyed this privately to the Congress party for correction.A minister belonging to a UPA constituent said that there will be free and frank discussion at the Cabinet meeting.This means the meet can see some plain speak by some non-Congress ministers like Sharad Pawar, Farooq Abdullah and Ajit Singh.He said it is not a Congress government but UPA government and we are sure Rahul knows we are his allies not followers. Ahead of the Cabinet meeting, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath said since the Cabinet had approved the ordinance, "if any changes have to be made, then only the Cabinet can do it. The Prime Minister cannot say I am withdrawing it. I cannot say, you cannot say. Whatever decision is taken, it will be of the Cabinet."Congress leaders have been insisting that the ordinance is "history".NCP leader and Union minister Praful Patel had said the developments following Rahul's remarks criticising the ordinance were not a happy situation and it could have been better handled.Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has sought a meeting of UPA coordination committee to discuss the measure threadbare.Miffed over the situation caused by Rahul Gandhi's remarks, NCP chief spokesperson D P Tripathi has demanded immediate convening of the UPA coordination committee noting that consultations in the alliance "have to be known to the people and public at large.The refrain at the AICC is that Gandhi's opinion is "well taken" in the party and the government, indicating thereby that the Cabinet could withdraw the ordinance.Conceding that there were two views on the issues in the party earlier also, Kamal Nath said that some MPs had earlier approached him saying that the whole issue should be reconsidered but the ordinance was brought as there was no time and the bill had already gone to the Rajya Sabha.Nath said that "Rahul Gandhi's views were somewhat different" on the issue, though all parties in the all-party meeting on August 13 had accepted the amendments that were done in the ordinance. "And you have heard Rahul Gandhi's views now," he added.