OoP Bill: Govt in haste to protect Sonia, says BJP

BJP alleged that it was committing the same folly as was done before the Emergency to save Sonia Gandhi.

Charging the government with bulldozing its way on the controversial Office-of-Profit Bill, the Opposition BJP on Monday alleged that it was committing the same folly as was done before the Emergency to "save" Congress President Sonia Gandhi.

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Initiating a discussion on Parliament (Prevention of Disqualification) Amendment Bill, 2006, BJP's Ananth Kumar accused the UPA Government of acting in "undue haste" to protect Gandhi who as National Advisory Council chief was among those facing disqualification.

Saying President APJ Abdul Kalam had returned the Bill for reconsideration on principles of justice, equity and transparency, Kumar charged the Government with paying "scant respect" to his advice on the matter.

"With UPA's majority, they want to bulldoze and pass the Bill with scant respect to the advice of the President," he said.

The Bill, which has been sent back by the President after being cleared by both the houses in the last session, was taken up for consideration in the Lok Sabha after it was passed by the Rajya Sabha last week.

Earlier, Law Minister HR Bharadwaj apprised the members of the issues raised by President APJ Abdul Kalam for reconsideration.

CPI (M) MP Varkala Radhakrishnan protested saying under under Rules 144-145, the Bill was not introduced by the Minister.

However, the Deputy Speaker refused to take this into consideration and pointed out that the Bill has been cleared by the Rajya Sabha where the message of the President had also been read.