Opinion - Letters to the Editor   

A mockery

The UPA Government's bid to introduce an ordinance, after abruptly adjourning Parliament, to save its top brass was a mockery of the law. The episode showcased its poor crisis management skills. The moment the Congress opened the Pandora's Box called the office of profit, it should have expected a backfire. The casualties in this ill-planned face saving effort were Parliament and its traditions. The Government has set a bad precedent.

T. Karthikeyan,
Madurai, T.N.

The Government adjourning Parliament sine die when the budget session was on showed the weak wicket on which it is placed vis-à-vis the office of profit issue. That the Congress had to resort to the adjournment route to save its leader, after gleefully accepting the ouster of Jaya Bachchan, shows the party in very poor light.

K.R.A. Narasiah,
Chennai

The Congress obviously bit off more than it could chew when it ensured that Ms. Bachchan was disqualified as Rajya Sabha member. The office of profit issue, spreading like wildfire, reminds us of Shiva granting a boon to Bhasmasura, which became a threat to his own life.

Ushadevi & S.B. Rao,
Ruwi, Muscat

The Congress' hasty action in Ms. Bachchan's case has obviously boomeranged. Unfortunately for Parliament, unpopular measures are resorted to in an effort to carry out damage control exercises.

Seshagiri Row Karry,
Hyderabad

Once again the country is witnessing the resignation-and-sacrifice drama. It opens with the Congress firing the first salvo at the Samajwadi Party, that gets its high-profile MP disqualified. The move boomerangs. The Congress leader does a replay of 2004. She becomes an embodiment of detachment and then announces she will contest the elections again. All MPs holding offices of profit will resign. Elections will follow. Who is going to foot the bill? We, the people, of course! Now that politicians are in an ordinance mode, why don't they promulgate one saying elected representatives holding offices of profit should pay the cost of elections necessitated by them?

Aravind Vummidi,
Chennai

The practice of promulgating ordinances by Governments to wriggle out of a sticky situation is most unhealthy. The resort to it by the Maharashtra Government to regularise hundreds of illegal buildings in Ulhasnagar is still fresh in the minds of the citizens. The Chief Justice and the President should intervene in this matter and insist that such options be used with discretion and only when it serves a larger public interest. The adjournment route of the UPA Government is highly despicable.

G.R. Vora,
Mumbai

Indira Gandhi imposed the Emergency when the Allahabad High Court set aside her election in 1975. The nation paid a heavy price to protect her chair. On Wednesday, the Government adjourned the Parliament session sine die, to protect Sonia Gandhi from being disqualified.

P.V. Maiya,
Bangalore

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