Dismissing suggestions of Rahul Gandhis victory in getting the legislation to shield convicted legislators stalled,BJP patriarch L K Advani credited President Pranab Mukherjee for the withdrawal of the ordinance and claimed that the Gandhi scion had only succeeded in rubbing off the UPAs authority,which inclu-des PM Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. The victory that has come to the country by withdrawal of this illegal and immoral ordinance has thus been thanks only to the Rashtrapati,who has proved that UPA would err seriously if it assumed that like most other Congressmen who had earlier occupied the high office of President,he too would remain a rubber stamp President, Advani said in his latest blog post on Friday. Rahuls victory is really confined to rubbing off UPAs authority,and not merely the Prime Ministers. From Day one,UPA has always meant Dr. Manmohan Singh and Smt. Sonia Gandhi. So,the nonsense slur hurled at the Cabinet-approved ordinance cannot apply only to the PM and his ministers. Soniaji must also share responsibility, he wrote. While crediting the President,the senior BJP leader not only sought to puncture any claims of victory for Rahul but tried to take some credit for the BJP in turning the tide against the legislation that appeared in favour of convicted legislators. After all,Rahul Gandhi had not given a single argument why he felt the ordinance was wrong, Advani wrote,while pointing how BJPs petition to the President elaborated why we of the BJP regarded the ordinance not only unconstitutional and illegal,but also immoral,besides being procedurally wrong. Advani reminded how the President had summoned the Law Minister and Home Minister soon after their petition that triggered a damage control exercise by the ruling establishment because the President returning the ordinance . unsigned would have been a major setback for the government.
