New Delhi, Mar 17: The ghost of bribes for MPs' votes returned to haunt the government today with the entire Opposition demanding its resignation over allegations that UPA-I purchased the support of lawmakers to survive the trial of strength at the height of crisis over Indo-US nuclear deal in 2008.
On top of several scams that had surfaced in the last few months, the government faced a torrid time in Parliament today with Opposition targeting it on the manner in which it won the vote of confidence in 2008 after the Left parties had withdrawn support to it opposing the Indo-US nuclear deal.
Both the Houses of Parliament were repeatedly rocked by uproar and adjournments by the Opposition members who demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his government saying it did not have any right to continue even for a moment as it was surviving on "political and moral sin".
The Right and and the Left combined in Parliament whenever it met during the day to launch an assault armed with the claim in a US diplomatic cable revealed by Wikileaks that an aide of former Union Minister Satish Sharma had shown to the diplomat currency chests that were part of Rs.50 crore to Rs.60 crore money collected by Congress for purchase MPs for the vote in the Lok Sabha.
The only defence that the government came out with was when Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told Parliament that a diplomat's cable enjoyed immunity and he could not not confirm or deny its contents.
"Each Lok Sabha is sovereign in its tenure. What happened in the 14th Lok Sabha cannot be judged during the tenure of the present House. Government of the day is accountable to the 15th Lok Sabha and not not to the 14th Lok Sabha.
"Whatever has happened in the 14th Lok Sabha has come to an end with the end of its tenure," the Leader of the House said but the opposition members were not not in a mood to accept his contention.
The Congress party attacked BJP and other parties for disrupting Parliament over the issue and claimed "the whole world has rejected the Wikileaks reports".
As the storm was blowing in Parliament, two key players--Satish Sharma and his supposed political aide Nachiketa Kapur--named in the cable sent to the State Department by US Charge d'Affaires Steven White on July 17, five days before the confidence vote, denied their role.
Sharma, whose name had cropped up in the JMM MPs bribery case in 1990s also, said he never had Kapur as his aide at any time ever in the past or now now and that the contents in the Wikileaks cable were "baseless".
Kapur also maintained that he never worked for Sharma, whom he knew, but denied the diplomat's claim as "malicious allegations". "I did not not meet him (diplomat)," he claimed.
Ajit Singh, chief of Rashtriya Lok Dal whose four MPs were allegedly paid Rs. 10 crore each for supporting the government, also denied the allegation. He said his three MPs had voted against the government in the trial of strength.
The BJP-led NDA and other Opposition parties like Left, SP, TDP and JD(S) made a common cause on the issue and launched a frontal attack on the Prime Minister.
"We would like the Prime Minister to come to the House and announce that he has decided to resign in the light of new revelations," NDA's Working Chairman L K Advani told a press conference flanked by leaders of the alliance.
He ruled out moving a no-confidence motion against the government saying "the people are no longer with the government".
"We will be failing in our duty if we do not not affirm that this government has lost the moral authority to continue even for a single moment," Advani said.
He said the full establishment of the government and the Congress party from the right were involved in the bribery episode which has "maligned" India's democracy in the eyes of the world.
His party colleague and Leader of the Opposition Arun Jaitley said the government survive on the basis of political and moral sin and was conducting a "farcical game" as it has been caught "with its pants down".
Jaitley dismissed Mukherjee's argument that what was done in the 14th Lok Sabha could not not be gone into now now saying the commission of criminal offence in 2008 does not not disappear with the constitution of a new House.
He also said the defence of diplomatic immunity may apply to the cable of the diplomat for its protection but even that has been leaked and the protection may not not extend to the bribes given by Indians in India.
Describing the alleged "buying" of MPs during the 2008 confidence vote as the "biggest scandal" in Independent India, he said Wikileaks had confirmed "our suspicions" about the 'cash-for-vote' scam.
He gave enough signals that the BJP-led alliance would not allow normal functioning of Parliament till its demand is met as he said that allies will meet every day to decide the course of action.
Addressing a separate press conference along with leaders of CPI, SP, TDP, TRS, CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury dubbed the alleged acts of buying votes as "gross moral degeneration and crass political opportunism" which has undermined Indian democracy.
"It is a humongous indictment of the Congress and the UPA government," he said, adding, "The Prime Minister must come and explain. Today was his day in the Rajya Sabha and he was not present."
Demanding a probe into the matter by the CBI, he wanted to know why investigation in the cash-for-votes scam did not continue. "Was it because it would have embarrassed the government and the principal opposition."
The CPI(M) leader was addressing the press along with Gurudas Dasgupta and D Raja (CPI), former Prime Minister H D Devegowda (JDS), Nama Nageshwara Rao (TDP) and Shailendra Kumar (SP).
The Left parties questioned the silence of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the wake of fresh WikiLeaks expose.
"The Prime Minister must come and explain. Today was his day in the Rajya Sabha and he was not present," CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury told reporters. The party also demanded registration of a case in the 'cash-for-vote' scam.
In a statement, the party Polit Bureau said the report sent by the diplomat should be the basis for filing an FIR and initiating an investigation against Satish Sharma and his aide Nachiketa Kapur, who were named in the diplomatic cable.
The WikiLeaks expose, published in The Hindu, confirmed what the Left parties had been saying in 2008 that MPs were bribed to vote in favour of the government, Yechury said.
"It is a humongous indictment of the Congress and the UPA government," he said and demanded an investigation into the matter by the CBI.
TDP's Nama Nageshwara Rao said the UPA had committed a murder of democracy by buying votes for its survival.
"The UPA government has no authority to continue in office. The Prime Minister should come forward and make a statement. If he does not speak, he should resign," he said. PTI
