BJP moves privilege motion against PM, ruckus in Houses

Parliament witnessed pandemonium on Tuesday over the Cash-for-Vote scandal and the houses had to be adjourned as the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) moved a privilege motion against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue saying the PM was not honest in his reply.

The BJP Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj sent a breach of privilege notice to Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh holding that his reply on the Cash-for-Vote issue was misleading.

The Speaker acknowledged receipt of the notice and said it is under consideration.

Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha were both adjourned over the ruckus on WikiLeaks cables.

Rajya Sabha was adjourned twice as the Congress and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party ( BJP) sparred over the WikiLeaks cables and the Cash-for-Vote scandal of 2008.

The Opposition should be allowed to speak, said L K Advani of BJP while the Left Parties said a discussion on the PM’s statement on the WikiLeaks revelations was needed.

“We are not stalling Finance Bill,” said L K Advani, when Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said “heaven is not going to fall” if the finance bill is passed first and then the matter of WikiLeaks was discussed.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) moved the privilege motion against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to bring up the issue of the allegations faced by Singh?s Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government of paying off lawmakers to win a confidence vote in 2008.

BJP takes on the Prime Minister for allegedly ?misleading? the House by asserting that no Congress members were involved in vote-buying.

Defying resignation calls from BJP, Singh had questioned the veracity of the claims based on U.S. diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks that accused members of his government of paying off lawmakers ahead of the crucial vote.

The trust vote, on July 22, 2008, had helped his government pass the historic 2008 Indo-US civil nuclear deal that paved the way for foreign countries to enter the India?s USD 150 billion civilian nuclear energy market, ending its nuclear isolation following the atomic test in 1974.

The deal faced stiff opposition in the country?s parliament over the issue of limiting liability of foreign suppliers that enter the industry and its slow progress frustrated U.S. analysts.
In a statement to the Rajya Sabha on Friday, Singh said, ?No one from the Congress Party or the government indulged in any unlawful act during the trust vote…The government rejects the allegation as absolutely false.?

On Tuesday, Lower House opposition leader Swaraj tweeted, ??I am moving a privilege motion against the Prime Minister today.? Later she moved the motion.

Her party had first raised the issue on day of the vote when BJP MPs dangled wads of cash in the House alleging attempts made by the government to buy out the lawmakers.
Investigations into the matter however allowed the issue to be cooled off.

Not likely to blown down easily this time, the vote-buying row, comes as the latest in the series of corruption allegations battering the Centre which include the massive telecoms spectrum scam, the Commonwealth Games irregularities and the Adarsh Housing scandal.