Lack of maturity: Trinamool on ordinance flip-flop

The Trinamool Congress Wednesday welcomed the union cabinet's decision to withdraw the controversial ordinance to protect convicted lawmakers, but said it was done in a "clumsy" manner, showing lack of maturity.

The passage of the ordinance and its withdrawal threw into sharp relief the lack of coordination between the United Progressive Alliance government and the centre and its spearhead, the Congress party, former union minister Saugata Roy told IANS.

"It's good they have withdrawn the ordinance. We have been demanding its withdrawal from the very beginning," senior Trinamool leader Saugata Roy said.

"But the way it has been done is clumsy. It shows lack of maturity on the part of the government," Roy said, soon after the central government announced it was taking back the ordinance and the bill.

Three days after the union cabinet cleared the ordinance, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi Sep 27, in an unexpected appearance at the Press Club of India, dubbed it "wrong" and "complete nonsense". He said the ordinance deserved to be "torn and thrown away".

Gandhi's comments came as major embarrassment for the Congress and the government, as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was on an official trip to USA, and scheduled to hold a summit meeting with US President Barack Obama hours later.

Congress spokespersons, who were strongly backing the ordinance till then, did a volte face soon after Gandhi's comments.

Finally, the union cabinet withdrew the ordinance, less than 24 hours after the prime minister returned from the US.

"The episode only shows the lack of coordination between the party and the government," Roy said.