PM has spoken for us: Ramesh on ordinance

Refusing to be drawn into the controversy over the ordinance that sought to protect convicted lawmakers from disqualification, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh Thursday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh "has spoken for all of us".

"The prime minister has spoken for all of us. I do not think I can add anything. You are trying to make this issue big. We (the cabinet) discuss everything, sometimes correct decisions are taken, sometimes not. On the ordinance there were two views," Ramesh told reporters here.

The minister, however, added he agreed that "politics should be cleaned up".

The cabinet, presided over by the prime minister Wednesday evening withdrew the controversial ordinance and the bill that sought to save convicted lawmakers from disqualification after it was forced into a corner following a public censure by Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi.

Manmohan Singh Tuesday said he would try to "find out the reasons" why Gandhi had chosen to rubbish a government ordinance that sought to shield convicted lawmakers "that way".

Ramesh asserted the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had supported the bill on the same issue at the all-party meeting.

"The minutes of the all-party meeting are present. If any BJP leader says they did not support, they are wrong," he said.