BJP TODAY
April 1--15, 2006 - Vol. 15, No. 7
| Petition to President of India |
BJP
demands Sonia’s disqualification
From our Correspondent
The Madam had finally to quit And the Great Madam finally tumbled. After NDA apprised the President of India of the legal, constitutional and political implications of the unprecedented attempt of UPA to first prorogue the House and then to promulgate an Ordinance to save their supremo from disqualification as MP, Smt. Sonia Gandhi herself resigned as MP and Chairman NAC to again claim the halo of another tyag. Otherwise, Election Commission would have disqualified her. There is a popular saying that if you find everything getting lost, it is wiser to save whatever you can. That is what Smt. Gandhi has done. The sycophants in Congress are trying to look like another tyag. If she was such a great tyagmoorti in reality, why did she desperately hanker after grabbing an office to function as an appendage to the PMO after renunciating PM’s post, unless she thought it was a position superior to that of the Prime Minister. Her position also became untenable after the Election Commission too declared that law applied to all. It is intriguing why did the UPA think of indulging in a backdoor promulgation of an Ordinance to save her, instead of facing the Parliament which was already in session. The reason seems to be, as BJP President Shri Rajnath Singh put it, Smt. Sonia Gandhi was “not having the courage to face Parliament and the Election Commission”. A guilty person only runs awayand never has the courage to face his opponents. In fact, Congress got itself irretrievably caught in a web it spun for others. It was a Congress leader – and according to Samajwadi leaders, at the behest of Smt. Sonia Gandhi – who had petitioned the President of India that Rajya Sabha MP Smt. Jaya Bachchan should be disqualified as she was holding an office of profit. At that time, the Congress leadership had justified the petition and welcomed her disqualification. Smt. Sonia Gandhi and the Central Congress leadership had till the last maintained that she was not holding an office of profit and her role was just advisory. Then why this U-turn all of a sudden? One is reminded of what Lord Christ one said: Those who live by the sword shall be slain by the sword. That is what seems to have happened. |
Taking public interest into account and ensuring that the law is respected by all, Bharatiya Janata Party took the initiative to file a petition before the President of India on March 23, 2006 seeking disqualification of Congress President Smt. Sonia Gandhi.
Shri Ananth Kumar, BJP General Secretary, on March 23 filed a petition before the President of India, under Article 103 of the Constitution of India seeking disqualification of Smt. Sonia Gandhi from the membership of Lok Sabha, on account of her having incurred the disqualification under Article 102(1) of the Constitution of India as she was holding the office of Chairperson of the National Advisory Council which is an office of profit. In the ten page petition, Shri Ananth Kumar attached copies of the notification issued by the Government of India.
Shri Ananth Kumar was accompanied by Shri Ravi Shankar Prasad, BJP Spokesperson and Senior Advocate Shri Satya Pal Jain, ex-MP.
In the petition it has been alleged that Smt. Sonia Gandhi was appointed as Chairperson of the National Advisory Council on 3rd June 2004. As per the notification dated 31st May 2004, by which the National Advisory Council was constituted, the entire expenditure of the Council has to be met by the Government of India. Even the appointment of the Chairperson has to be made by the Government and the other members of the Council would be nominated in consultation with the Chairperson.The Government of India has full control over the post, which Smt. Sonia Gandhi is holding, and hence her office is an office of profit. It was stated that though the term ‘office of profit’ has not been defined in the Constitution of India but the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India in the case of Shri Shibu Soren and Shri V. Rajashekheran has laid down certain criteria which determine whether an office is an office of profit or not. Applying this criteria Smt. Sonia Gandhi is holding an office of profit and hence she is liable to be disqualified from the membership of Lok Sabha, the petititon claimed.