03-23-2006, 11:37 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>Sonia presses ESC to avoid DEL </b>
Navin Upadhyay / New Delhi
Hoist with own petard, she took martyrdom yatra----- Soon after her announcement, Congressmen were beating their chests to project party president Sonia Gandhi's resignation from the Lok Sabha and the National Advisory Council on Thursday as her second "martyrdom", but it was obvious that she had few options to extricate herself from a politically untenable situation.
Had Ms Gandhi chosen to reign soon after the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) submitted a memorandum to President APJ Abdul Kalam seeking her disqualification from the Lok Sabha for holding an office of profit as chairperson of the National Advisory Council (NAC), she might have succeeded in taking the high moral ground. But the developments of the past 48 hours clearly show that Ms Gandhi had no choice but to walk the "martyrdom" path following the media leak of a well-planned conspiracy to smuggle in an ordinance to save her skin.
But while Ms Gandhi decided to quit, her party did not apply the same principle for others MPs who are in the dock for holding offices of profit. Since a majority of the 44 odd MPs, under a similar cloud belong to the Congress and the Left, the Government was planning to sneak in a legislation to save them from disqualification.
<b>The premature disclosure of the 'Save-Sonia' plot and the subsequent uproar in media and Parliament over the Government's unprecedented decision to prorogue the Budget session to bring in the ordinance brought Ms Gandhi to the center of a major controversy. The message had gone that any such ordinance would be seen as a "gross violation of democratic traditions" and harks back to the dark era of Emergency when Indira Gandhi had played similar tricks to save her membership of the Lok Sabha</b>.
The UPA Government justified the sine die adjournment of Parliament citing lack of legislative business, but the million dollar question is why the Opposition leaders were kept in the dark if the move was not part of a well-planned conspiracy to bring in the ordinance. Few will believe that Ms Gandhi, or for that matter Prime Minister Manmohan were not aware of the design. It is obvious that if the plot was not exposed in time, the Government would have got away with proroguing the House and bringing in the ordinance.
The Government did not wait to bring in a Bill to remove the grey area around the office-of-profit issue, because after the TDP petition to the President, Congress managers sensed that it was only a matter of time before the EC served Ms Gandhi a notice seeking to know why she should not be disqualified from Lok Sabha for heading the NAC. Since such a situation would have been a serious blow to her image, the ordinance route was plotted and the House prorogued to protect the halo around Ms Gandhi.
<b>Caught in the trap of her own making, Ms Gandhi suddenly heard the call of conscience</b>. But in the process of resigning, she sought to make a clear distinction between herself and other lesser Congress MPs facing similar charges of holding offices of profit. While the leader decided to resign to again become a symbol of renunciation, a legislation could save her party MPs from disqualification.
Unfortunately for her, the Opposition was in no mood to allow her to convert a misfortune into an opportunity. Telugu Desam Party immediately reacted saying the Congress president's decision to resign "amounted to an admission she is holding an office of profit."
<b>"She might have felt compelled under the circumstances after our complaints to the President.</b>
<b>Instead of waiting for the Election Commission's decision, she might have felt that it is better to step down," TDP parliamentary leader K Yerran Naidu told the Pioneer.</b>
Describing Ms Gandhi's decision as a "victory of democracy," he said it would have been more "graceful" had she resigned earlier before the "unethical decision" to adjourn the Parliament sine die.
<b>"Why was the House adjourned sine die yesterday? What was the motive? It was an insult to democracy as they took the decision without consulting any political party,"</b> he said.
Asked if the TDP would demand the resignation of other MPs holding offices of profit, Naidu said it is left to their decision. "If they resign voluntarily, we welcome it."
<b>TDP had petitioned President APJ Abdul Kalam on March 14 seeking disqualification of Ms Gandhi, Minister T Subbirami Reddy, MPs Karan Singh and Kapila Vatsayan.</b>
<b>Meanwhile, Janata Dal (U) asked all Congress MPs to emulate the example set by their leader Sonia Gandhi.</b>
"We welcome Ms Gandhi's resignation. But if the Congress was sincere, and its MPs wanted to prove that they are ardent followers of Ms Gandhi, they should resign and seek re-election to the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha," JD (U) spokesman Sambhunath Srivastava said. He also demanded Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee's resignation for holding an office of profit as chairperson of the Sriniketan-Shantiniketan Development Authority.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Navin Upadhyay / New Delhi
Hoist with own petard, she took martyrdom yatra----- Soon after her announcement, Congressmen were beating their chests to project party president Sonia Gandhi's resignation from the Lok Sabha and the National Advisory Council on Thursday as her second "martyrdom", but it was obvious that she had few options to extricate herself from a politically untenable situation.
Had Ms Gandhi chosen to reign soon after the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) submitted a memorandum to President APJ Abdul Kalam seeking her disqualification from the Lok Sabha for holding an office of profit as chairperson of the National Advisory Council (NAC), she might have succeeded in taking the high moral ground. But the developments of the past 48 hours clearly show that Ms Gandhi had no choice but to walk the "martyrdom" path following the media leak of a well-planned conspiracy to smuggle in an ordinance to save her skin.
But while Ms Gandhi decided to quit, her party did not apply the same principle for others MPs who are in the dock for holding offices of profit. Since a majority of the 44 odd MPs, under a similar cloud belong to the Congress and the Left, the Government was planning to sneak in a legislation to save them from disqualification.
<b>The premature disclosure of the 'Save-Sonia' plot and the subsequent uproar in media and Parliament over the Government's unprecedented decision to prorogue the Budget session to bring in the ordinance brought Ms Gandhi to the center of a major controversy. The message had gone that any such ordinance would be seen as a "gross violation of democratic traditions" and harks back to the dark era of Emergency when Indira Gandhi had played similar tricks to save her membership of the Lok Sabha</b>.
The UPA Government justified the sine die adjournment of Parliament citing lack of legislative business, but the million dollar question is why the Opposition leaders were kept in the dark if the move was not part of a well-planned conspiracy to bring in the ordinance. Few will believe that Ms Gandhi, or for that matter Prime Minister Manmohan were not aware of the design. It is obvious that if the plot was not exposed in time, the Government would have got away with proroguing the House and bringing in the ordinance.
The Government did not wait to bring in a Bill to remove the grey area around the office-of-profit issue, because after the TDP petition to the President, Congress managers sensed that it was only a matter of time before the EC served Ms Gandhi a notice seeking to know why she should not be disqualified from Lok Sabha for heading the NAC. Since such a situation would have been a serious blow to her image, the ordinance route was plotted and the House prorogued to protect the halo around Ms Gandhi.
<b>Caught in the trap of her own making, Ms Gandhi suddenly heard the call of conscience</b>. But in the process of resigning, she sought to make a clear distinction between herself and other lesser Congress MPs facing similar charges of holding offices of profit. While the leader decided to resign to again become a symbol of renunciation, a legislation could save her party MPs from disqualification.
Unfortunately for her, the Opposition was in no mood to allow her to convert a misfortune into an opportunity. Telugu Desam Party immediately reacted saying the Congress president's decision to resign "amounted to an admission she is holding an office of profit."
<b>"She might have felt compelled under the circumstances after our complaints to the President.</b>
<b>Instead of waiting for the Election Commission's decision, she might have felt that it is better to step down," TDP parliamentary leader K Yerran Naidu told the Pioneer.</b>
Describing Ms Gandhi's decision as a "victory of democracy," he said it would have been more "graceful" had she resigned earlier before the "unethical decision" to adjourn the Parliament sine die.
<b>"Why was the House adjourned sine die yesterday? What was the motive? It was an insult to democracy as they took the decision without consulting any political party,"</b> he said.
Asked if the TDP would demand the resignation of other MPs holding offices of profit, Naidu said it is left to their decision. "If they resign voluntarily, we welcome it."
<b>TDP had petitioned President APJ Abdul Kalam on March 14 seeking disqualification of Ms Gandhi, Minister T Subbirami Reddy, MPs Karan Singh and Kapila Vatsayan.</b>
<b>Meanwhile, Janata Dal (U) asked all Congress MPs to emulate the example set by their leader Sonia Gandhi.</b>
"We welcome Ms Gandhi's resignation. But if the Congress was sincere, and its MPs wanted to prove that they are ardent followers of Ms Gandhi, they should resign and seek re-election to the Lok Sabha or the Rajya Sabha," JD (U) spokesman Sambhunath Srivastava said. He also demanded Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee's resignation for holding an office of profit as chairperson of the Sriniketan-Shantiniketan Development Authority.
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->