The 19-vote victory came after the managers of the Manmohan Singh government had outmaneuvered and outgunned the opposition in what has been one of the murkiest contests in parliamentary history — a contest in which charges of bribery and misuse of CBI drowned all other substantive issues on debate.
Charges of horse-trading were rampant on Monday, the day before, and the days before that. But on Tuesday, it came out in the open in Parliament as a shocked country watched on television three BJP members rush into the Lok Sabha well waving wads of currency notes that were allegedly given to them by SP leader Amar Singh’s men to abstain from the trust vote. They claimed to have video graphic evidence of the whole bribery operation.
Leader’s opinion about the Trust Vote.
Leader of Opposition L K Advani claimed the “moral” plank in the Manmohan Singh government’s trust vote on Tuesday 22-7-2008 when he said that the UPA had won a ‘numerical” victory but had lost out in terms of credibility in the eyes of the nation.
The BJP leader admitted that there had been cross-voting and said “UPA might have won the trust vote, but its victory was corrupt and manipulated. The government scored a numerical win but lost on moral grounds.” He pointed out that the episode needed a detailed investigation and hoped that Speaker Somnath Chatterjee would take appropriate action.
The BJP, which had been subject of a determined poaching attack by the ruling coalition, was able to substantially turn the tables on the government through the cash-for-votes episode. On the back foot, the BJP was able to grab centre stage by claiming that the money its MPs “deposited” in the House, was proof of allegations of horse trading.
The alleged bribes saw the BJP taking the aggressive path and directing its attack on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The timing of the episode couldn’t have been better for the BJP as the text of the PM’s speech—which he did not deliver—showed. The PM had aimed his ammunition at Advani and the BJP. The tactic was similar as when he targeted the Opposition during his Budget intervention.
But if the attempt was to push the BJP under withering fire, the bribe allegations saw BJP saw take the high road. “An immediate investigation is needed. Also, the Speaker, who has placed so many premiums on transparency, should make the tapes available to media. Since the bribery attempt has taken place outside the House, their was no bar on MPs being probed,” Advani added.
PRAKASH KARAT (CPM)
They didn’t approach CPM MPs because they knew they can’t bribe them. This is certainly the most shameful day in the history of Parliament
RAJNATH SINGH (BJP)
For the last three-four days attempts were being made to purchase MPs. This is the most shameful and saddest day of Parliament. This has also hurt the prestige of Indian Parliament
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