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MMS nukes Leftists, Rightists and
Many In Between With 275-256= 123
Accuracy
Sach Kanwal Singh/Kalam Nishan Singh
 NEW DELHI: On a day Indian Political System plunged to record depths
of morality and Parliament watched the ugly spectacle of currency
wads appearing minutes before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was to
seek a vote of confidence in his government, Indian law makers
handed him a 275-256 victory in a slug-fest that saw Left parties
playing footsie with Hindu right-wing communalists in the failed
attempt to pull down the regime that is widely seen as moving closer
to the US by pushing for Nuclear Deal between New Delhi and
Washington.
India's Bahujan Samaj Party ostensibly represent ing Dalits,
the most marginalized of the developing country, was in the
forefront of those
trying to pull down the four-and-a-half year old government
of first ever Sikh Prime Minister. Its chief Mayawati, currently ruling
politically important province of Uttar Pradesh, played the 'Muslims
against Nuclear Deal' card, but both she and her arch rival Samajwadi Party, were accused of bribing and luring lawmakers. Samajwadi Party ended its hiatus of ruling Congress days before the
trust vote and made up the numbers for the ruling UPA alliance to
survive after it was left in a minority when Left pulled the rug.
Amid many a call to Akali Dal,
whose eight MPs were seen as crucial, to
vote for "India's first Sikh
PM", the party stood steadfast with BJP-led NDA coalition with whose help it rules Punjab. However, one
MP of the Akali Dal seemed to have abstained in Parliament. In
Punjab, BJP's 18 MLAs are crucial to survival of Parkash Singh Badal
government.
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Speaker
calls in police
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee will order an inquiry
into the bribery allegations levelled in Parliament on
Tuesday, just ahead of the trust vote, when three BJP MPs —
Ashok Argal (Madhya Pradesh), Faggan Singh Kulaste (Madhya
Pradesh) and Mahavir Bhagora (Rajasthan) — placed Rs 1 crore
on the floor of the House.
They alleged it was offered to them to abstain during the
trust vote. A CD containing details of the transactions and
certain related conversations reportedly recorded by the
receiving MPs with the help of a TV sting operation has been
handed over to the Speaker. The Speaker also summoned
Delhi
police commissioner Y.S. Dadwal in the matter. |
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The acrimonious debate over Monday and Tuesday hit its nadir when
minutes before the PM was to take the floor, three BJP MPs claimed
they were sought to be bought by men of Samajwadi Party's Amar Singh
and produced Indian currency notes worth Rs one crore (10 million,
or $ 233,000). The impending ruckus ensured that the PM could not
have his word and was forced to merely lay a copy of his speech on
the floor of the House. But a CD of the dirty transaction was
submitted by a TV news channel to Speaker Somnath Chatterjee who
will now be dealing with the matter.
Bribery has happened in the past too as far as Indian Parliament is
concerned and in a case popularly known as the JMM case, the Supreme
Court did not take action despite proven instances of bribery by
saying that conduct of the MPs was privileged and it was for the
Parliament to act. Not long ago, some ten of India's MPs of various
parties  were caught in a media sting operation accepting cash for
questions in Parliament.
A large number of smaller parties and unaffiliated MPs found the
confidence vote a good occasion to press for or extract promises for
their demands but the Akalis of Punjab failed to use the moment to
stress any Punjab or Sikh related demands, something for which they
will be facing flak. Radical Sikh parties and panthic organisations
of course articulated themselves against the nuclear deal.
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 The
Crossers
The BJP,
Telugu Desam Party, Janata Dal (U), Janata Dal (S), TRS, BJD
and Shiv Sena failed to keep their flock together. Ditto for
Akali Dal as Libra slipped away.
Dr H.T.
Sanglianna Patil (Bengaluru North), Manjunath Kannur (Dharwad
South), Manorama Madhvaraj (Udupi), M. Shivanna (Chamarajanagar)
— all from Karnataka, Dr M. Jagannath (Nagar Karnool), D.K.
Audikesavulu (Chottor), A. Narendra (Medak) — all from
Andhra Pradesh, Harihar Swain (Aska, Orissa), and Tukaram
Renge Patil (Parbhai, Maharashtra) helped the government
either by remaining absent or by abstaining from voting.
Two BJP MPs
from Gujarat, Babubhai Katara (Dahod) and Somabhai Patel (Surendranagar),
as well as Brij Bhushan Sharan Sing h (Balrampur, Utttar
Pradesh) had already announced they would vote for the
motion, besides two JD(U) MPs —P.P. Koya (Lakshadweep) and
Ram Swaroop Prasad (Nalanda). The UPA managers got at least
six supporters from the BJP in Karnataka, Gujarat and UP. |
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Soon after the results were announced after much din caused by BJP
members demanding Prime Minister's resignation and shouting down his
speech, the PM said he was all through confident of the victory.
Manmohan Singh's government that ruled courtesy outside support of
the communist parties with a strength of 59 in Lok Sabha was forced
to seek a vote of confidence after the Left withdrew support on the
issue of government operationalising the Indo-US civilian nuclear
deal by approaching the IAEA.
Main opposition BJP's president Rajnath Singh demanded the
resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh following allegations
by three of his party MPs that they were offered money by a
Samajwadi Party leader to abstain from voting. BJP has been saying
it that Congress and its allies have been pressurising its MPs to
either vote for the UPA government or abstain from voting.
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 Sample the bon mots from the
evening:
Prakash Karat, CPM general secretary: The government knew
that we can't be bought, but our allies were approached. We
have got time, dates and records. It is a shameful day for
the Indian democracy.
Rajnath Singh, BJP president: The Prime Minister should
resign.
Congress: It is the saddest day for democracy. These are
desperate antics of a party that knows it is losing. Those
making allegations should produce evidence.
Mulayam Singh, Samajwadi Party chief: This is a conspiracy.
We'll expose the BJP
Ahmed Patel: My name dragged in to malign my party. This is
an attempt to scuttle the trust vote.
Brinda Karat, Left leader: It is the most shameful day for
the democracy in India.
 Lalu Prasad Yadav, Union Railway Minister: These are all
false and planted by the opposition parties. Narco-tests
should be conducted on the three BJP MPs who levelled the
allegations. They should be arrested.
Mayawati, Bahujan Samaj Party chief: Prime Minister Manmohan
Singh should resign on moral grounds. |
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23
July, 2008
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