Left ridicules BJP's threat to seek Sonia's disqualification

New Delhi, Mar 8 (UNI) The Left parties today dared the BJP to complain against Congress President Sonia Gandhi to the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Offices of Profit if it was serious about its threat to approach the Election Commission to seek her disqualification from the Lok Sabha on the ground that she was holding an office of profit.

Taking to UNI, the leaders of CPI(M), CPI and the RSP said the BJP's move against Ms Gandhi was ''untenable'' as there was no provision in the Constitution to disqualify Ms Gandhi from the Lok Sabha as she did not hold any office of profit either as the Chairperson of the UPA or the Director of the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation.

Mr Nilotpal Basu, CPI(M) parliamentary group leader in the Rajya Sabha, said: ''Any member against whom there is an allegation of holding any office of profit, the matter can be discussed in the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Offices of Profit. But some one has to make a formal complaint in the Committee.'' Currently, the 15-member committee is headed by Chander Vijar Singh of SP.

''Let legal and constitutional procedures decide about the case, if any member complains about Ms Gandhi to the committee,'' Mr Basu, who was member of the committee from 2002 to 2004, said.

The committee will decide on the grounds if the member held any executive powers or enjoyed certain emoluments in a government office, Mr Basu added.

CPI leader A B Bardhan and party National Secretary Shamim Faizi said as far as the NAC was concerned, it had been set up to coordinate the coalition of the UPA and its members are not paid any emoluments.

The CPI leaders said the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation was also not a government body but a foundation.

Mr Manoj Bhattacharjee, RSP leader and an MP, who was an acting Chairperson of the Committee several times, eleborated that the office of profit was determined by Article 102 of the consititution.

''The provision, since it was promulgated in 1958, has recommended a large number of bodies' membership and chairmanships of boards which should be exempted from disqualification after being chosen as member of either house of Parliament,'' Mr Bhattacharjee said.

As far as the membership or chairmanship of the temporary Advisory Committee was concerend, it did not fall under the purview of the disqualification, the RSP leader said.

''Ms Sonia Gandhi is holding the office in the NAC, which was constituted by the government to advise the UPA government from time to time,'' he said.

''So in no way it attracted the disqualification provsion, Moreover even the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation is not a government body,'' he added.

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