LK praises Pranab, slams Rahul

BJP parliamentary party chairman L.K. Advani on Friday slammed Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi for “rubbing off the authority” of the Prime Minister and the UPA with his strong words on the ordinance on convicted legislators, which was withdrawn by the government. Giving credit to President Pranab Mukherjee for the withdrawal of the ordinance, Mr Advani wrote it was after BJP leaders, including him, met the President on the issue that the BJP delegation “got the clear impression that he (the President) was convinced that the situation merited his intervention”. The summoning of home minister Sushilkumar Shinde, law minister Kapil Sibal and parliamentary affairs minister Kamal Nath by the President after meeting BJP leaders made it clear that things had started moving, he said. Mr Advani said returning the ordinance to the government unsigned by the President would have been a major setback for government. “It is then perhaps that Soniaji may have thought of doing some damage control using Rahul for the purpose. It is obvious, however, that no one advised him how precisely he was to carry out this task,” he wrote. The objective would have been fully served if Rahul had simply said that the decision taken by the government needs to be reviewed,” Mr Advani wrote.