Cabinet to take up ordinance on convicted netas today

However, it will need to save its face as many senior leaders in govt, including Chidambaram, had spoken in defence of ordinance

In the run-up to the crucial Cabinet meeting on Wednesday where the controversial ordinance on tainted netas will be taken up, senior ministers have been busy putting their heads together to take stock of the situation.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Law Minister Kapil Sibal, who were instrumental in shaping the ordinance, held discussions on Monday night.

After Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi trashed the ordinance passed by the Cabinet as “complete nonsense”, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government had to do something to save face.

Meanwhile, UPA ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was critical of these developments, insisting that the matter should be taken up before the Cabinet as it is a coalition government and not just a Congress government.

According to sources, Chidambaram drove down to Sibal’s house on Monday night and held discussions with him. Sources say Sibal who drafted the ordinance, was “extremely upset” after Gandhi said the ordinance should be “torn up and thrown away”.

Now that the ordinance was to come up before the specially-convened Cabinet on Wednesday evening, the government is likely to withdraw it. However, it will need to save its face as many senior leaders in the government, including Chidambaram, had spoken in defence of the ordinance.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to meet President Pranab Mukherjee at 11 am on Wednesday. Before that, there is a core group meeting headed by Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Notably, it was a core group decision on September 21 that had cleared the ordinance, which was subsequently placed before the Cabinet. Therefore, Rahul Gandhi’s sudden opposition to the ordinance has perplexed many senior Congress leaders.

Not just senior Congress leaders, allies, too, are upset. “Rahul Gandhi as Congress vice-president can take a decision for the Congress party, but the UPA government is not a Congress government; it is a coalition government headed by Manmohan Singh. Rahul Gandhi will appreciate that we are his allies, not subordinates,” senior NCP leader and chief spokesperson D P Tripathi told Business Standard.

He said the final decision should be taken by the Cabinet headed by the PM. Meanwhile, Parliamentary Affairs minister Kaml Nath conceded there are two views on the issue within the party. Nath said some members of Parliament (MPs) had approached him earlier saying the whole issue should be reconsidered, but there was no time as the ordinance had already gone to the Rajya Sabha. According to Nath, Rahul Gandhi's views were “somewhat different", although 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.

He nonetheless lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), accusing it of practising “politics of doublespeak" and "politics of kalakaari (drama)”. He said the BJP always does this act of supporting something in Parliament and opposing it outside.

He said: “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.”