New Delhi:
The BJP's Sushma Swaraj made a Diwali visit to Tihar Jail today to meet two party men and the BJP's former strategist Sudheendra Kulkarni, all arrested in the cash-for-votes scam case.
"Going to meet Faggan Singh Kulaste, Mahavir Bhagora and Sudheendra Kulkarni in Tihar jail today at 3 pm," Ms Swaraj tweeted this morning. After her meeting, she slammed the UPA government and rued that "Our three innocent colleagues are forced to spend Diwali in jail... Their only crime is that they tried to highlight other people's wrong doings. Those who did wrong are in government, those who did not are in jail."
All the three men that Ms Swaraj visited today were denied bail last week in the cash-for-votes case. Mr Kulkarni is accused of devising a plan in July 2008 to expose that the UPA government was willing to buy MPs to survive a trust vote in Parliament. He is said to have asked three BJP MPs - Mr Kulaste and Mr Bhagora among them - to solicit offers from political parties. The trio found a taker - Amar Singh, according to the Delhi Police. Mr Singh was then with the Samajwadi Party; he allegedly delivered a crore to the BJP MPs via his assistant. The three BJP MPS walked into the Lok Sabha hours before the trust vote waving wads of notes.
They later said the one crore they brought to Parliament was just an advance; they had been promised nine crores for their votes. Dr Manmohan Singh survived the vote.
The BJP describes them as "whistleblowers". Senior leaders LK Advani and Arun Jaitley had earlier visited Mr Kulkarni in jail. Ms Swaraj today said the spirit of her partymen in jail was high despite being locked away during the biggest of all festivals. "They said don't worry about us... Our struggle will not end till the true criminals are brought to book," she said.
Mr Kulaste and Mr Bhagora, who are not MPs anymore, were arrested on September 6 along with Amar Singh. Ashok Argal, the third BJP MP, has not been arrested yet because he is a serving member of the Lok Sabha and the Speaker, Meira Kumar's sanction was needed to take action against him. Mr Singh was granted bail by the High Court in Delhi yesterday.
Mr Kulkarni was a key strategist for senior BJP leader LK Advani in 2008; he has since disassociated from the party. He says that his only agenda was to expose the UPA government's willingness to buy support to survive its trust vote.
Mr Advani has dared the government to arrest him too. As Leader of the Opposition at the time, he has said, he was aware of his party's scheme, which included coopting a private TV channel to record on hidden camera the money being handed over to its MPs.