Nitish backs Rahul Gandhi's opinion on ordinance

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar today supported Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's denouncement of the controversial ordinance against disqualification of convicted lawmakers and said the Bill should have been passed in Parliament after debate.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Friday supported Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi's denouncement of the controversial ordinance against disqualification of convicted lawmakers and said the Bill should have been passed in Parliament after debate.

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"He (Rahul) has spoken the right thing," Kumar told reporters who sought his reaction to the Congress vice-president's comment that the ordinance should be "torn up and thrown away".

Kumar said bringing an ordinance from the "backdoor" to protect convicted lawmakers from immediate disqualification was not warranted. Since opinion on the subject was divided, a comprehensive debate should have been held in Lok Sabha before the bill is passed.

Opinion of all parties should be taken before passing the bill, he added.

On the Supreme Court holding that citizens have the right to cast negative votes rejecting candidates contesting polls, Kumar said he would comment only after reading the judgment.

The chief minister, however, added that during 1974's JP movement the citizens right to recall an elected representative was propagated.