BJP welcomes Masood's conviction, takes dig at Congress

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday took a dig at the Congress over its MP Rasheed Masood being jailed on charges of corruption, saying that the first lawmaker to lose membership of parliament upon conviction will be from the party that leads the coalition government at the centre.

Welcoming a Delhi court's decision to sentence Masood to four years' imprisonment, Bharatiya Janata Party spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said the cases of graft were coming to logical conclusions.

Referring to conviction of Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Lalu Prasad Monday in the fodder scam case, Hussain said the decisions have increased people's faith in the judiciary.

The fodder scam involved the embezzlement of about Rs.9.5 billion from the government treasury of Bihar.

"Rasheed Masood has been awarded sentence. The credit of first MP's disqualification has gone to the Congress, United Progressive Alliance," Hussain said.

Masood, a Rajya Sabha MP, was Tuesday sentenced for fraudulently nominating undeserving candidates from across the country to MBBS seats in 1990-91.

The Supreme Court has struck down a law that provided immunity to convicted members of parliament and state legislatures from immediate disqualification.

Hussain said it was still not clear if the Election Commission or the presiding officers of the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha will take a decision on disqualification of convicted MPs.

He said the party was awaiting early verdicts in "coalgate, 2G spectrum allocation, Commonwealth Games scam, railgate".

"The hand of law is now reaching the corrupt ... Most scam cases involve people from Congress or supporting parties," he said.

Referring to Rahul Gandhi slamming the ordinance which would have helped convicted MPs in retaining their seats as it sought to override the supreme court order, Hussain said the Congress vice president had sought "to save his party's face".

"He (Rahul Gandhi) had apprehension that president will not sign the ordinance," Hussain said.

The BJP, he said, was already demanding that the ordinance should be returned.

Hussain alleged that the ordinance was aimed at saving Masood and Lalu Prasad.

"The ordinance was aimed at saving Congress and a party supporting it," he said.