Meanwhile, the BJP has backtracked on the Patents Bill, the source of Khurana's woes. On Wednesday, the BJP and the Congress combined to push through the Bill in the Rajya Sabha but failed to introduce it in the Lok Sabha the next day, the last day of the Monsoon session. The Left and other non-Congress parties protested vociferously against the Bill in the Rajya Sabha and even staged a walkout when all clear logic fell on the deaf ears of the Government and its new-found ally in the Congress. Dr Ashoke Mitra of the CPI(M) even defined the Bill in terms of the East India Company experience when the right to trade was interpreted by the imperialists as the natural power to rule. But obviously, there are other urgent matters than the economic sovereignty of the country which are making the BJP and the Congress insist on the passage of the Patents Bill. However, fissures are evident within the ruling coalition as well as the Congress on the Bill. The BJP is under severe pressure from the Sangh Parivar bosses and party leaders like Uma Bharati have openly criticised the Bill. In the Congress, the camp is clearly split with Mr Pranab Mukherjee having to openly castigate Vayalar Ravi of Kerala in the Rajya Sabha for proposing an amendment. The Left has already taken to the streets and has warned of serious consequences if the Bill is rushed through though there is enough time to discuss the Bill threadbare in Parliament.

Back to Khurana. First, he told Parliament that the Bill could not be introduced in Parliament because the President had not sent it back but when the office of the head of state issued a statement saying that it had no clue as to what the minister was saying and that no Bill had come to Rashtrapati Bhavan for consideration in the first place, then the minister had to eat humble pie and shifted the blame on his underlings, the poor babus of his department. Indeed, at least, he tried his hand at some redemption; he apologised to the President! While clearly forgetting that he had misled the people.To whom he is finally responsible. But a sense of responsibility, again , is not one of the virtues of the likes of Madan Lal Khurana.