UPA govt. want to 'bail out' people with 'questionable credentials': BJP

Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Tuesday remained confident about the rejection of the Cabinet-proposed ordinance on convicted lawmakers, and accused the Centre of rescuing fraudulent politicians, ahead of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh's meeting with President Pranab Mukherjee in the national capital on Wednesday.

"The BJP has opposed that ordinance thoroughly. We have opposed (it) inside the Parliament, we also went to the President to oppose it. We are quite sure that it will be turned down," Prasad said.

"The intention of the government was not clear from the very beginning. This government has always tried to bail out people with questionable credentials," he added.

Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh who is en-route India, after attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York, is expected to meet President Mukherjee on the ordinance on October 2.

On September 27, from the United States of America, the Prime Minister issued a statement hours after Rahul Gandhi criticized the UPA Government's decision to bring ordinance to protect convicted lawmakers, and said: "The Ordinance cleared by the Cabinet pertaining to the Representation of the People Act has been a matter of much public debate. The Congress Vice-President has also written to me on the issue and also made a statement," said Dr. Singh in a statement.

"The Government is seized of all these developments. The issues raised will be considered on my return to India after due deliberations in the Cabinet," Dr. Singh added from America.

Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi had earlier described the ordinance as a document which was 'nonsense' and one that needs to be 'torn up' and 'thrown away'.

The Union Cabinet is likely to have another look at the controversial ordinance on convicted politicians before President Pranab Mukherjee leaves for Belgium on an official visit on October 2.

According to media reports, Rashtrapati Bhawan has clearly indicated its discomfort with the ordinance in its present form.

Opposition parties such as the BJP, the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have made direct representations to the president not to sign the ordinance, as it is bad in principle and violates the Constitution.

President Mukherjee has already met Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kamal Nath and Law and Justice Minister Kapil Sibal to seek clarifications about the ordinance. He has also consulted legal experts on the constitutional tenability of the ordinance.