The Opposition has cried foul over the government introducing a bill stipulating the removal of ministers under arrest for more than 30 days for serious offences, including corruption. They termed the proposed legislation as anti-democratic and prone to be misused against Opposition leaders and governments. But Congress MP Shashi Tharoor struck a different tone by saying it is obvious that a minister should be out of office if arrested for such a long period. Some Opposition campers also anticipate the ruling side now riding the bill for an anti-corruption blitzkrieg while accusing the Opposition of trying to shield the tainted.
Leader of the Opposition (LS) Rahul Gandhi said at an Opposition meet, "There is a lot of action going on about the new bill that BJP is proposing. We are going back to medieval times when the king could just remove anybody at will. There's no concept of what an elected person is. He doesn't like your face... So, he tells ED to put a case, and then a democratically elected person is wiped out within 30 days." Incidentally, during the UPA era, he had demonstrated his 'zero tolerance' towards corruption by publicly scuttling a government ordinance meant to give relief to convicted legislators like Lalu Prasad.
Leader of the Opposition (RS) Mallikarjun Kharge said, "Over the last 11 years, we have witnessed the blatant misuse of parliamentary majority to arm autonomous agencies like ED, I-T and CBI with draconian powers to target Opposition leaders. Now, these new bills are set to become instruments in the hands of the ruling party to further undermine and destabilise democratically-elected governments in states."
However, Tharoor had a different take. "If you spend 30 days in jail, can you continue to be a minister? This is a matter of common sense... I don't see anything wrong in this," he told the media even as he favoured a House panel scrutiny of the bill. "I think it is good for our democracy to have a discussion (of the bill) within the (House) committee. So, let's have that discussion".
Until the then Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal refused to quit even after being arrested in a graft case and a DMK minister in Tamil Nadu, Senthil Balaji, tried to continue in office in jail and on bail (until SC intervened to force him to resign), the norm were ministers resigning when arrested or, in many cases, when faced with serious allegations or court indictments. Prasad resigned as CM when he was arrested in the fodder scam case. Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan had quit following the Aadarsh housing complex graft charges and many UPA ministers quit when held or faced graft charges. NDA minister George Fernades had also quit after graft allegations.
Leader of the Opposition (LS) Rahul Gandhi said at an Opposition meet, "There is a lot of action going on about the new bill that BJP is proposing. We are going back to medieval times when the king could just remove anybody at will. There's no concept of what an elected person is. He doesn't like your face... So, he tells ED to put a case, and then a democratically elected person is wiped out within 30 days." Incidentally, during the UPA era, he had demonstrated his 'zero tolerance' towards corruption by publicly scuttling a government ordinance meant to give relief to convicted legislators like Lalu Prasad.
Leader of the Opposition (RS) Mallikarjun Kharge said, "Over the last 11 years, we have witnessed the blatant misuse of parliamentary majority to arm autonomous agencies like ED, I-T and CBI with draconian powers to target Opposition leaders. Now, these new bills are set to become instruments in the hands of the ruling party to further undermine and destabilise democratically-elected governments in states."
However, Tharoor had a different take. "If you spend 30 days in jail, can you continue to be a minister? This is a matter of common sense... I don't see anything wrong in this," he told the media even as he favoured a House panel scrutiny of the bill. "I think it is good for our democracy to have a discussion (of the bill) within the (House) committee. So, let's have that discussion".
Until the then Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal refused to quit even after being arrested in a graft case and a DMK minister in Tamil Nadu, Senthil Balaji, tried to continue in office in jail and on bail (until SC intervened to force him to resign), the norm were ministers resigning when arrested or, in many cases, when faced with serious allegations or court indictments. Prasad resigned as CM when he was arrested in the fodder scam case. Maharashtra CM Ashok Chavan had quit following the Aadarsh housing complex graft charges and many UPA ministers quit when held or faced graft charges. NDA minister George Fernades had also quit after graft allegations.
