OoP Bill 'exercise to protect' some MPs: BJP

New Delhi, May 17: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today described the Prevention of Disqualification Bill as an ''exercise to protect'' some Members of Parliament from expulsion for holding offices of profit and cautioned that it would leave a very wrong impression on future generation.

Initiating the debate on the Parliament (Prevention and Disqualification) Amendment Bill, 2006, in Rajya Sabha, BJP leader Arun Jaitley charged the Left parties with having a common interest in getting the Bill passed as most of the offices sought to be exempt in the Bill had some ''West Bengal connection.'' ''The Bill has something to do with preserving the government in power. Special favour is shown to West Bengal and one factor is common that every name has a face behind it.'' The Left and the government are not united by a ''Commom Minimum Programme but Common Minimum Profit,'' he quipped. ''This is the price that the government has to pay for being in power,'' he said.

Mr Jaitley observed that there had to be a strong rationale behind the passing of the Bill and said that not only actual receiving of remuneration but the entitlement also warranted disqualification.

Congress' Abhishek Manu Singhvi, in his maiden speech, said the Bill does not do anything more than 'revisit' what is already in the constitution. He described the Bill as ''curative and preventing which seeks to avoid conflict between duty and interest.'' He accused the opposition of opportunism, expediency and preaching without practice.

UNI

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