Rahul win: Cabinet to take back ordinance, bill protecting convicted netas

Less than a week after the Congress’ vice president’ public and vocal denouncement of the ordinance to protect convicted lawmakers, the Union Cabinet today unanimously decided to withdraw the ordinance and the bill that is pending before Parliament. “The Union Cabinet today met at 1800 hours and it was unanimously decided that both the ordinance with regard to certain sections of the Representation of People Act as well as the bill would be withdrawn,” Tewari said speaking to the press after the cabinet meeting. “As far as the bill is concerned, it is the property of Parliament so an appropriate motion will be moved when Parliament meets to withdraw the bill,” Tewari said. The decision to withdraw the contentious legislation comes after the Prime Minister met with Rahul Gandhi, spoke with Congress’ allies and the Congress core group decided that it was best way forward. [caption id=“attachment_1148443” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Manish Tewari briefing the media after the Cabinet meeting. PTI[/caption] While critics have argued that by publicly denouncing the legislation, Rahul had undermined the authority of Manmohan Singh, Tewari today said there was no question of undermining the authority of the Prime Minister in a democratic country. “The decision of the union cabinet was unanimous. As the Prime Minister articulated yesterday, democracy is not an authoritarian monolithic system of government,” Tewari said. “We respect diversity of views. Yes there was a view articulated by Rahul Gandhi and possibly it was based on the widest possible feedback.. under those circumstances it was decided to take back both the bill and ordinance,” he said. Tewari pointed out that the bill and the ordinance were the result of a consensus among all parties that had been evolved during a meeting with the Opposition and other parties during an all-party meet on 1 and 13 September. The Minister for Information and Broadcasting was also quizzed about how he had defended the ordinance earlier and was now defending its dismissal as strongly. “If the Cabinet takes a decision it is my duty to inform you. If the Cabinet after listening to its conscience decides to change the decision it is still my duty to inform you about it,” he said. “The decision to withdraw bill only shows that UPA is not an authoritarian government,” Tewari said.