Congress 'rift' on convicted lawmakers ordinance will damage country's reputation: SP

Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal on Saturday criticised the Congress Party for being divided on its stand on the ordinance for convicted lawmakers, and said the rift not only damages the reputation of the ruling party, but also affects the reputation of the country.

"I cannot understand what is happening, because, when this Bill came up for debate in the Rajya Sabha, the entire Congress Party supported it. ...At that time, did they not look it over? I cannot understand under what pressure all of this happened," Agarwal said.

"With this rift, there is a sudden mistrust of the entire government. The UPA needs to decide what to do, but the government's reputation has definitely taken a hit. The Congress should understand that if the government's reputation takes a hit, the country's reputation will also be affected," he added.

In a major embarrassment to the Congress-led UPA II Government, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi dubbed the ordinance to negate the Supreme Court verdict on convicted lawmakers as 'complete nonsense', and said it should be torn up and thrown away.

"I personally think what the government is doing on the ordinance is wrong. It was a political decision, every party does it, and there is a time to stop this nonsense," he said.

The developments came a day after President Pranab Mukherjee summoned senior Cabinet ministers Sushil Kumar Shinde, Kamal Nath and Kapil Sibal for consultations on the ordinance pending before him for signature.

The Union Cabinet had approved an ordinance to reverse the Supreme Court judgment mandating the immediate disqualification of lawmakers convicted for a criminal offence punishable with a jail term of more than two years.

The ordinance seeks to reverse the Supreme Court judgement that had not only disqualified lawmakers convicted of offences with two years or more in jail, but also barred from contesting elections.