RS lauds women MPs for showing commitment on Office of Profit issue

New Delhi, Jul 27 (UNI) The Rajya Sabha today lauded women MPs, including Congress President Sonia Gandhi and Samajwadi Party leader Jaya Bachchan, for having shown exemplary courage and constitutional commitment by resigning from Parliament on the Office of Profit issue and then getting themselves re-elected.

''The Congress President acted with the great commitment and resigned from her post and get herself re-elected in the hot summer.

She came back with honour. She showed the greatest constitutional commitment,'' noted legal luminary and nominated MP Ram Jethmalani said while asserting that no political party had any right to talk of morality on the issue of Office of Profit as they were directly or indirectly beneficiaries of it.

However, Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh pointed out that his party MP actor Jaya Bachchan, with whose disqualification the controversy first arose, also got herself elected. He said that Kapila Vatsayan also got herself re-elected.

''My tributes to all these great women for showing the commitment to the Constitutional provisions,'' Mr Jethmalani said, adding ''since you (Amar Singh) happens to be more familiar with these women, my tributes to you as well.'' Mr Jethmalani said that all the beneficiaries of the bill have no right to speak of morality as they had breached the Constitution and instead of gracefully accepting its constitution, they were waiting for legislation to be passed to rid them from the responsibility of reading the constitution. ''Keep morality out of it,'' he said and added that he was also against morality accentuated by hypocrisy.

Similar sentiments were expressed by Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh who said that though he was a beneficiary of the bill, he was ''ashamed'' of it. He said that both the Congress and the BJP were adopting a double standard on the issue as the former was against it in Uttar Pradesh but want it at the Centre while the BJP wanted it in Jharkhand but was opposing it in Delhi.

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