NEW Delhi, March 17 (Agencies): National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leader LK Advani on Thursday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to quit “forthwith” and said he had lost the right to govern after leaked US cables revealed that the Congress paid money to opposition MPs to win a Parliament trust vote in 2008. “The NDA demands that this government has no moral right to continue and it should quit,” the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) senior leader told reporters here as Parliament plunged into turmoil over the WikiLeaks cables carried by a newspaper on Thursday.
Accusing the Congress-led government of “political immorality”, the former deputy PM said: “UPA-I survived on the strength of political sin. The PM has no moral authority or legitimacy to lead the country. He must quit forthwith.” The published US embassy cable said that an American diplomat was shown a huge quantity of money by Nachiketa Kapur, described as a political aide to Congress leader Satish Sharma, meant to be given to MPs to vote for the government. ( Read: Sharma denies WikiLeaks claims on MPs’ bribing ) Some MPs, Kapur allegedly told the diplomat, had already been paid money. Advani pointed out that the 2008 Parliament trust vote related to the controversial India-US civil nuclear deal that threatened to topple Manmohan Singh’s government when he headed the first UPA alliance.
“The American embassy was interested in the vote of confidence,” the BJP leader said, and described the Congress as “a friendly party” in American view. Advani rubbished finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s argument that a matter related to the earlier Lok Sabha could not be raised in the present Lok Sabha. “The finance minister’s defence in the Rajya Sabha that diplomatic immunity prevents the government from investigating the cables is of no avail. The diplomatic immunity extends to protecting the secrecy of the cable. The cable has already been released to the public. The diplomatic immunity does not extend to protect an Indian offender who has committed an act of bribery in India,” he said. Advani also rubbished Mukherjee’s second defence that the offence has nothing to do with the 15th Lok Sabha as it occurred during the 14th Lok Sabha and that the bribery was committed outside Parliament.
“It was the time when delimitation was done and many MPs were vulnerable as they could lose their seats. The Congress approached those MPs who were vulnerable, they tried to find those who could be corrupted and use them. Our MPs acted as whistle blowers,” Advani said. “From stinking scams to suicides or maybe something else, there seem to be no end to the scandals and stink that accompanies this government. These allegations of corruption shall continue till it (UPA II) is in power,” he said.
Accusing the Congress-led government of “political immorality”, the former deputy PM said: “UPA-I survived on the strength of political sin. The PM has no moral authority or legitimacy to lead the country. He must quit forthwith.” The published US embassy cable said that an American diplomat was shown a huge quantity of money by Nachiketa Kapur, described as a political aide to Congress leader Satish Sharma, meant to be given to MPs to vote for the government. ( Read: Sharma denies WikiLeaks claims on MPs’ bribing ) Some MPs, Kapur allegedly told the diplomat, had already been paid money. Advani pointed out that the 2008 Parliament trust vote related to the controversial India-US civil nuclear deal that threatened to topple Manmohan Singh’s government when he headed the first UPA alliance.
“The American embassy was interested in the vote of confidence,” the BJP leader said, and described the Congress as “a friendly party” in American view. Advani rubbished finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s argument that a matter related to the earlier Lok Sabha could not be raised in the present Lok Sabha. “The finance minister’s defence in the Rajya Sabha that diplomatic immunity prevents the government from investigating the cables is of no avail. The diplomatic immunity extends to protecting the secrecy of the cable. The cable has already been released to the public. The diplomatic immunity does not extend to protect an Indian offender who has committed an act of bribery in India,” he said. Advani also rubbished Mukherjee’s second defence that the offence has nothing to do with the 15th Lok Sabha as it occurred during the 14th Lok Sabha and that the bribery was committed outside Parliament.
“It was the time when delimitation was done and many MPs were vulnerable as they could lose their seats. The Congress approached those MPs who were vulnerable, they tried to find those who could be corrupted and use them. Our MPs acted as whistle blowers,” Advani said. “From stinking scams to suicides or maybe something else, there seem to be no end to the scandals and stink that accompanies this government. These allegations of corruption shall continue till it (UPA II) is in power,” he said.
Cong paid Rs.10 cr for confidence vote
NEW Delhi, March 17 (PTI): An aide of Congress leader Satish Sharma allegedly showed a US Embassy employee “two chests containing cash” and said Rs 50-60 crore is ready for use as “pay-offs” to win the support of some MPs ahead of crucial vote of confidence in UPA government over the Indo-US nuke deal, claimed a set of US diplomatic cables released by Wikileaks. Noting that the Congress party machine was working “overtime” behind the scenes in the run-up to the confidence vote on July 22, 2008, the cables also claimed the party had allegedly paid Rs 10 crores to each of their “four RLD MPs.”
RLD chief Ajit Singh denied the allegations of pay-offs and said the party voted against the Manmohan Singh government since it was against the civil nuclear deal. The cable claimed that Nachiketa Kapur, Sharma’s political aide, mentioned to an Embassy staff member in an aside on July 16, 2008 that Ajit Singh’s RLD had been paid Rs. 10 crore for each of their “four MPs” to support the government. Kapur reportedly mentioned that money was not an issue at all, but the crucial thing was to ensure that those who took the money would vote for the government, according to the cable sent from the US Embassy to the US State department dated July 17, 2008. Kapur showed the Embassy employee “two chests containing cash” and said that “around Rs. 50-60 crore (about $25 million) was lying around the house for “use as pay-offs”, the cable claimed. ( BJP demands UPA govt’s resignation, Parliament adjourned )
RLD chief Ajit Singh denied the allegations of pay-offs and said the party voted against the Manmohan Singh government since it was against the civil nuclear deal. The cable claimed that Nachiketa Kapur, Sharma’s political aide, mentioned to an Embassy staff member in an aside on July 16, 2008 that Ajit Singh’s RLD had been paid Rs. 10 crore for each of their “four MPs” to support the government. Kapur reportedly mentioned that money was not an issue at all, but the crucial thing was to ensure that those who took the money would vote for the government, according to the cable sent from the US Embassy to the US State department dated July 17, 2008. Kapur showed the Embassy employee “two chests containing cash” and said that “around Rs. 50-60 crore (about $25 million) was lying around the house for “use as pay-offs”, the cable claimed. ( BJP demands UPA govt’s resignation, Parliament adjourned )
Cannot confirm or deny WikiLeaks: Government
New Delhi, March 17 (PTI): Under attack from opposition on the Wikileaks cables on alleged cash for votes during the confidence vote in 2008, government today said it can neither confirm nor deny the revelations. After an uproar in the Rajya Sabha by opposition over the issue demanding the resignation of the government, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the cables were correspondence between a sovereign government and its mission abroad.
They enjoyed diplomatic immunity and “it is not possible for the government to either confirm it or deny it.” A united opposition today demanded resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in connection with allegations of bribing MPs to win the 2008 trust vote after the Left withdrew support to the UPA-I over Indo-U.S. nuclear deal. Mukherjee also said the charges pertained to the 14th Lok Sabha but the government of the day was responsible to the 15th Lok Sabha. He also asked Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley whether the newspaper publication can be proved in any court of law.
New Delhi, March 17 (PTI): Under attack from opposition on the Wikileaks cables on alleged cash for votes during the confidence vote in 2008, government today said it can neither confirm nor deny the revelations. After an uproar in the Rajya Sabha by opposition over the issue demanding the resignation of the government, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the cables were correspondence between a sovereign government and its mission abroad.
They enjoyed diplomatic immunity and “it is not possible for the government to either confirm it or deny it.” A united opposition today demanded resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in connection with allegations of bribing MPs to win the 2008 trust vote after the Left withdrew support to the UPA-I over Indo-U.S. nuclear deal. Mukherjee also said the charges pertained to the 14th Lok Sabha but the government of the day was responsible to the 15th Lok Sabha. He also asked Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley whether the newspaper publication can be proved in any court of law.
