After Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi trashed as "complete nonsense" an ordinance designed to protect convicted lawmakers, the ruling party is looking for a way to kill it. The union cabinet will meet at 6 pm tomorrow to discuss the fate of the ordinance, which it had hurriedly approved last week.
Here are the 10 latest developments in the story:
Sources say the government would like to distance a possible cabinet decision to withdraw the ordinance from Rahul Gandhi's outburst on Friday. So for form's sake, the Prime Minister and his ministers are expected to discuss both options - going ahead with the ordinance and withdrawing it.
On Wednesday morning, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who returns from the US this evening, will meet President Pranab Mukherjee. The President had reportedly questioned the need for such an ordinance.
The Congress's core group, a team of top leaders that includes Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, will also meet tomorrow.
The core group had reportedly approved going ahead with the ordinance on September 21. Congress president Sonia Gandhi was present at that meeting.
It thus surprised many when Rahul Gandhi barged into a press conference six days later on Friday last, and said, "the ordinance is complete nonsense. It should be torn up and thrown away."
Mr Gandhi's outburst has reportedly annoyed some UPA allies. One Congress ally said while he was opposed to the move to overturn the Supreme Court judgment, he did not protest at last week's cabinet meeting because he believed "it was a fait accompli since the Congress core group had cleared it."
Rahul Gandhi's bombshell embarrassed the PM while he was on a key foreign visit and left him open to domestic ridicule and calls for his resignation. Congress president Sonia Gandhi yesterday said the party was firmly behind the PM.
Union minister Kamal Nath hit out at the BJP for its alleged flip flop on the ordinance. "Inside the Rajya Sabha they support the ordinance and outside they protest, this is the dual character of the party," he said.
The BJP has accused the government of trying to rush the ordinance in time for the verdict on Lalu Yadav, a loyal ally who has been one of Sonia Gandhi's strongest supporters. Lalu was convicted and jailed on Monday in a fodder scam case. He stands to lose his Lok Sabha seat and also the right to contest elections for six years after his sentence.
The ordinance seeks to circumvent a Supreme Court order disqualifying convicted lawmakers, by allowing them to remain in office while a higher court hears an appeal.
