Pranab on Ordinance: System has capacity and flexibility to adjust friction, avoid crisis

President Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday broke his silence on the withdrawn ordinance on convicted lawmakers, saying he was confident that the Indian Constitution has the capacity and flexibility to adjust to the friction caused by a dynamic multi-party system to avoid any crisis.

"Umpteen number of times, I have stated that each institution should function within its limitations, which have been determined by the Constitution. Every institution derives its authority from the Constitution itself," President Mukherjee said onboard on his way back to India, after paying state visits to Belgium and Turkey.

"In a living, dynamic of a multi-party system, there may be occasions when various institutions act in a particular way, but, we have the capacity and flexibility in the system to adjust the friction and avoid any crisis," he added.

On October 2, the Union Cabinet withdrew the proposed ordinance and Bill after a meeting at the prime minister's residence the same evening.

Prior to the cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Singh met President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan before the latter left for state visits to Belgium and Turkey.

In a major embarrassment to the ruling UPA, Rahul Gandhi had earlier on September 27 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," Gandhi had said in New Delhi.