Jailbirds get red carpet treatment to bail out Govt

POWER BEHIND BARS: Jailed MPs will be participating in Parliament during the trust vote.

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New Delhi: When the Government is at stake even those languishing behind bars can be trusted – jailed MPs will be participating in Parliament on Tuesday during the vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha.

One of the jailbirds to vote is RJD MP Md Shahabuddin who was brought to the Capital from Siwan jail to lend some oxygen to a Government that is desperately fighting to survive.

“In jail I didn’t have a phone so I couldn’t communicate with my party. But I will go with whatever my party says,” Shahabuddin said soon after he reached Delhi.

In the race to make or break this Government are five other jailbirds, many of them convicted of murder. But for some of them it's a vote under pressure and toeing the party line brings little cheer.

Once convicted, an MP can't seek re-election. With the term of the 14th Lok Sabha ending in a few months these MPs have nothing to lose so Samajwadi Party MP Ateeq Ahmed and Afzal Ansari are being tempted to drive a hard bargain and if necessary switch loyalties. It's UP Chief Minister Mayawati, after all, who can guarantee better security.

But according to some experts this is a very unjust scenario. “People who are charged with heinous crime or convicted by the lower courts should not be allowed to come to the House or vote,” legal expert Subhash Kashyap said.

But without embarrassment parties across the nuclear divide have lined up their notorious Parliamentarians.

“We don’t think convicted MPs should be mobilised in this manner by political parties,” senior CPM leader Nilotpal Basu said.

Goon or no goon, on Tuesday every vote will be crucial and though legally the jailbirds are on firm ground in coming to Parliament to vote, the prospect of getting a proven lawbreaker to express his opinion as a lawmaker is raising a few eyebrows.