Lawmakers of other parties will not quit

New Delhi: The Left and the Samajwadi Party yesterday announced that none of their MPs being accused of holding offices of profit would step down.

The Left, an ally of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA), flatly refused to emulate Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's move to step down on "moral grounds" with CPM general secretary Prakash Karat saying, "Our MPs will not resign."

So far the Left, particularly the CPM, has not commented on Sonia's resignation.

Samajwadi Party leader Ram Gopal Yadav said: "Amar Singh will not resign."

Earlier, Samajwadi Party chief and Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav had turned down Amar Singh's offer to quit.

The BJP, which termed Gandhi's resignation as the "confession of a culprit", gave clear indications that it was in no mood to ask its deputy Leader of the Lok Sabha V.K. Malhotra, accused of holding an office of profit, to resign.

That Sonia's so-called "sacrifice" was yet to find any takers, became evident with most of the 43 MPs accused of holding offices of profit showing no signs of resigning from Parliament.

All eyes are now on Congress legislators on whether they would emulate their leader and resign from the Lok Sabha.

However, the first to follow in Sonia's footsteps was party MP Gurudas Kamat. Instead of sending his resignation to Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, he despatched it to Sonia.

Kamat has offered to resign from the Lok Sabha and as president of Mumbai Regional Congress Committee. Some of the other Congress MPs under the scanner are Karan Singh, Kapila Vatsayan and a union minister.