Congress chief Sonia quits Lok Sabha, NAC

Taking the wind out of opposition sails, Congress president Sonia Gandhi today announced her resignation from the Lok Sabha and as the chairperson of National Advisory Council (NAC) - an office that threatened to cost her seat in the Parliament.

The resignation came on the day the BJP petitioned President A P J Abdul Kalam seeking her disqualification from the Lok Sabha on the ground she held an office of profit as chairperson of NAC. The TDP had already petitioned the President last week in this regard.

Chief Election Commissioner B B Tandon said today that the law was the same for everybody, and he would consider the petition against Gandhi when it was referred by the President.

After consultations with top leaders including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Gandhi issued a brief statement in which she regretted that an atmosphere was being created by certain people to project that the
government and the Parliament were being used to protect her.

"I have done this because this is the right thing to do," Gandhi said.

With Gandhi's resignation, interest will now centre around the strategy to be adopted by similarly-placed politicians across parties.

Petitions have been filed for the disqualification of Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee (chairman of Srinikatan-Shantinikatan Development Authority), union minister Subbirami Reddy (chairman, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam), senior Congress leader Karan Singh (ICCR), Rajya Sabha
member Kapila Vatsyayan and V K Malhotra (former president of
All India Council of Sports).

The Speaker had even kept away from the house yesterday saying he did it as a matter of propriety after some members had raked up issues against him.

While Samajwadi Party MP Jaya Bachchan was disqualified last week on the ground that she held an office of profit by being the chairperson of UP Film Development Council, the Election Commission has already sent a notice to her party colleague Amar Singh, Rajaya Sabha MP and chairperson of UP Industrial Development Council, on a similar petition against him.