New Delhi:
Sudheendra Kulkarni, former BJP advisor, has been arrested and sent to Tihar jail till October 1.
Mr Kulkarni showed up in a Delhi court today morning to explain his role in what's known as the cash-for-votes scam. He said he was ready to go to jail if that was a consequence of his attempt to expose the UPA government's alleged willingness to buy votes to stay in power. Mr Kulkarni's lawyers had applied for interim bail on his behalf, a plea that the court rejected. A regular bail plea will be taken up on October 1.
Mr Kulkarni, like the BJP, has asked why whistleblowers are being arrested in the case. Mr Kulkarni said he acted as a whistleblower and a political activist in 2008 when he persuaded three BJP MPs to put themselves on the political market ahead of a trust vote for Dr Manmohan Singh. The MPs were caught on hidden camera receiving money from middlemen who allegedly represented politician Amar Singh. The MPs then walked into the Lok Sabha hours ahead of the trust vote waving the money - one crore in cash - that they said they had been paid to abstain during the vote. Dr Singh survived the vote.
Delhi Police has described Mr Kulkarni as the mastermind of the cash-for-votes operation. Mr Kulkarni's lawyers said the BJP was always kept in the know about the "sting operation."
Mr Kulkarni said, "Our intention was to expose the most shameful episode of corruption of purchase of opposition and independent MPs to influence their vote in Parliament so that the government that has been reduced for minority survived," said Mr Kulkarni, who in 2008 was a senior advisor to BJP leaders like LK Advani. "I believed and I continued to believe that if our members of Parliament... if our MLAs are purchased like this by giving them 10 crore, 20 crore... then India's democracy would be in grave danger," he added.
Mr Kulkarni had skipped earlier court hearings because, he said, he was in the US with his daughter for her college admission. He said that he was already abroad when the police chargesheet was filed.
In court, his lawyers said much the same and contended that Mr Kulkarni had cooperated fully in investigations throughout. They pointed out that the Delhi Police had questioned Mr Kulkarni the most number of times.
The judge hearing the case today said "I can't understand why some were arrested and others were not." She reprimanded the Delhi Police asking why it had again been left to the court to order the arrest of yet another accused in the case.
Earlier this month, the court had ordered the arrest of Amar Singh under the Prevention of Corruption Act; Mr Singh has been granted interim bail for medical reasons. The court will hear arguments on the Rajya Sabha MP's plea for regular bail on Wednesday.
Two of the three BJP MPs who were paid money in 2008 are in jail. The third is still serving his term as MP so the Speaker of the Lok Sabha has to sanction action against him. In Parliament a few weeks ago, Mr Advani in a dramatic episode dared the government to jail him too. He said that as Leader of the Opposition in 2008, he was aware of his party's plans to entrap the government ahead of the trust vote on July 22, 2008.
Like Mr Advani, Mr Kulkarni argued today that those who helped expose corruption are being penalised while those who benefited from Amar Singh's alleged conspiracy remain untouched. "The issue is who benefited ultimately from this cash for votes? And why is it that those who benefited are all scott free today and those who try to expose it are behind bars?" asked Mr Kulkarni.
The Delhi Police has so far not disclosed the source of the money paid to the BJP MPs. It has also not elaborated on whose behalf Amar Singh may have been acting by bribing BJP MPs to support the government. The BJP has repeatedly said that because Dr Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi were the intended beneficiaries of Amar Singh's actions, they should explain the cash-for-votes scam.
The BJP's Ravi Shankar Prasad said today that it was remarkable that whistleblowers were being arrested in the case while "people behind the cash-for-votes scam are roaming free."