Ordinance route if six anti-graft bills not passed: Congress

Ordinance route will be taken if six anti-corruption bills are not passed in the Winter Session of Parliament scheduled to conclude tomorrow, Congress indicated today.

Party spokesman Shashi Tharoor told reporters here that non-passage of the bills will be a "setback to the nation" and so all options will have to be examined to bring them into effect through other routes, including the ordinance route.

However, the Union Minister, who was holding his first briefing as party spokesman, insisted that laws are "best made in Parliament" and it can still happen.

"We are extremely keen on seeing these bills are passed. We are running out of time. We are talking to other parties and hope that they agree for an extension of the session", he said.

Rahul Gandhi has made a strong pitch for the passage of the anti-graft measures.

Gandhi had accused BJP of not allowing the bills to be passed by disrupting Parliament repeatedly, a charge denied by the opposition party. The anti-graft legislations have been dubbed by BJP as the Congress Vice President's "agenda" in an election year.