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Lok Sabha passes Office of Profit Bill

      New Delhi: Even though the Lok Sabha today passed the office of profit Bill by a voice vote after the opposition BJP walked out of the House protesting against the exemption of the post of Chairperson of the National Advisory Council (NAC) from the office of profit; there were reports that the UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi is unlikely to don the mantle of NAC chief once again. The Bill will be tabled tomorrow in the Rajya Sabha, and after getting it passed it would be sent to the President for his consent. With BJP having not enough numbers in the Rajya Sabha too, the Bill is expected to have a smooth sailing also in the Upper House of the Parliament. Meanwhile, sources in the Congress Party said that the party President Sonia Gandhi is not keen to head the NAC once again in- spite of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's wish to see the UPA Chief lead NAC. With the BJP already having initiated ante against the creation of NAC, Sonia Gandhi does not like to become the target of the Opposition parties once again.

     Earlier in the day, the leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha, L K Advani today fired the first salvo against the Bill in general and the office of NAC in particular demanding that the NAC should be obliterated since its Chairperson has become "a super Prime Minister" thereby diminishing the authority of the Office of Prime Minister as conceived by the constitution makers. Advani's demand that a constitutional amendment is necessary to exempt NAC Chief post from Office of Profit, earned some quick war of words from the Law Minister H R Bhardwaj, who hit back by saying that he was amused to find that the Leader of Opposition had not enough proper knowledge of Parliamentary laws as NAC was neither a Constitutional body nor a statutory one. Supported by other NDA constituents, BJP walked out of the House before the Bill could be tabled. The Left parties along with Samajwadi party however, gave their consent to the Bill.

     The Bill would also benefit Lok Sabha Speaker and CPI (M) leader Somnath Chatterjee and Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh as it exempts the Chairperson post of both Sriniketan Shantiniketan Development Authority and Uttar Pradesh Development Council from the Office of Profit. It was alleged that chairing these posts both Chatterjee and Singh were holding office of profit and hence be disqualified from the membership of Parliament. However, neither Sonia Gandhi nor Somnath Chatterjee was present in the Lok Sabha when the discussion on the Bill took place.

     Meanwhile, Congress and other parties have criticized BJP's opposition to The Bill. SP leader Amar Singh said that it was a double standard on the part of the BJP as "BJP was able to save two of its State Governments from falling by bringing out such Bill in the State Legislatures, so protesting the introduction of such a bill in New Delhi would be like practising double standards". To the charge of practising double standard by opposing the Bill, senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj said that "there was no double standard practised by BJP as the Constitution under article 102 clearly states that no member of the Parliament should hold any office of profit".