New Delhi: After a WikiLeaks cable shows a US diplomat writing that the Congress seemed to have bought MPs to survive its vote of confidence in 2008, the Opposition has slammed the government in Parliament. "This government survived on the strength of a political sin," said the BJP's Arun Jaitley.
(Read - WikiLeaks: Congress bought MPs for trust vote over nuclear deal)The cable says that an aide to senior Congress leader Satish Sharma showed a US embassy staffer two boxes full of cash and said the Congress had accumulated Rs 50-60 crore to buy MPs for its trust vote over the nuclear deal with the US in July 2008. Mr Sharma's assistant also said that 4 MPs from Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal had been paid Rs 10 crore each. Mr Singh has denied this today, and says that he had 3 MPs who voted against the government. Mr Sharma has said that the man named as his aide in the cable never worked for him.
But the matter saw angry debate in both houses of Parliament.
(Watch - WikiLeaks on Cash-for-Votes: Who said what)"This (the cable) is a humongous indictment of the way the government has functioned," said the CPM's Sitaram Yechury in the Rajya Sabha. He referred to the "gross degeneration of political morality" and said the government had shown "political opportunism."
On behalf of the government, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in reference to the WikiLeaks cable: "Correspondence between a sovereign government and its mission enjoys diplomatic immunity. There is no question of denying or confirming." Pointing out that the UPA was re-elected to power in May 2009, he went on to say, "Whatever has happened in 14th Lok Sabha cannot be raised in 15th Lok Sabha." The Opposition refused to accept that as a suggestion that the matter has ended. Mr Mukherjee then suggested that the Opposition take the cash-for-votes issue to court.