BJP tells government to drop Office of Profit Bill

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday asked the United Progressive Alliance government to drop the Office of Profit Bill in the wake of the President returning it to Parliament, even as it announced plans for an awareness campaign against the controversial legislation.

"The return of the Bill is a slap on the face of the UPA. It was brought to protect their own chair. Unfortunately, the Congress party does not consider it an embarrassment. We will welcome if the government drops the Bill," BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar said.

• What is an office of profit?

Maintaining that the legislature should not develop any vested interests in the executive, he said a meeting of senior party leaders in New Delhi on Saturday morning decided to launch an awareness campaign across the country on the Office of Profit issue.

The party's legal cell will organise seminars and workshops in this regard, he said.

Javadekar also condemned as 'undemocratic and impinging on the Election Commission's constitutional duty', the attack by the Left Parties on the poll panel for deciding to process the pending cases pertaining to the offices of profit pending before it.

Chaired by L K Advani, the meeting was attended by senior party leaders Jaswant Singh, Sushma Swaraj, S S Ahluwalia and V K Malhotra and others.

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