Hugely busy day for the Congress and the first family of the party. Our sources in Delhi tell us that it was at the suggestion of President Pranab Mukherjee that the Rahul Gandhi made the statement that will come as a huge embarrassment for the  prime minister.

If you're blissfully unaware of what we are talking about, the Congress vice-president stormed into Congress general secretary Ajay Maken's media meet and said that the ordinance saving tainted netas was 'complete nonsense, it should be torn up and  thrown away. It is my personal opinion'.

Earlier in the day, Sonia Gandhi, Rahul and Priyanka are believed to have a meeting on the withdrawal of the Ordinance, as well.

The President is believed to have saved a major constitutional crisis and has given the UPA a much-needed boost by urging Rahul Gandhi to come clean on the ordinance.

The President had felt that the apex court might strike it down and believed he had limited resources to stop the ordinance from being passed. A Union Minister is believed to have said that 'Pranabda saved the UPA Government', soon after Rahul Gandhi's quickie press conference.

Be that as it may, Sonia Gandhi was party to the decision of issuance of the Ordinance on disqualifying convicted elected representatives. It was she who agreed to sidestep the SC order during the  all party meeting and also in the Congress Core Committee meeting.

Rahul's dramatic and open denunciation of the ordinance comes a day after President Pranab Mukherjee called three ministers - Home, Law and Parliamentary Affairs - and raised questions over the need for an ordinance on an issue on which there was no political consensus.