Congress, govt did not buy trust vote: PM

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday reiterated his earlier statement in Parliament on the Cash-fo-Vote controversy and denied that his government or party ever indulged in any activity to buy lawmakers to win a trust vote in 2008.

Facing a barrage of criticism from the Opposition led by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Parliament during the day, the PM rose to make a statement saying: “None from the Congress party or the government indulged in any such unlawful act during the trust vote in 2008.”

He said they had not been involved in any such transaction or authorized anyone to do so.

Once again taking on the Opposition, he said the veracity of the US diplomatic cables and its contents accessed by WikiLeaks and published in an Indian daily cannot be confirmed and many persons referred to in the cables had denied them.

He said the probe panel set up then to probe the Cash-for-Vote allegation had said there was no conclusive evidence of bribery.

The PM said then Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee also acknowledged it and he would repeat the same observation.

The PM took on the Opposition saying that his government was voted to power by the people of India in a free and fair election and even took a sarcastic dig at BJP leader L K Advani saying that the latter had never forgiven him for failing to be the Prime Minister.

“Advaniji believes that being the Prime Minister is his birthright and therefore he has never forgiven me,” he said, adding that people of this country voted the Congress to power and Advani must wait for another few years for his chance, triggering a roar of laughter of his party lawmakers in the Lok Sabha.

The PM said he was no match for Sushma Swaraj of BJP in oratory and responded in a Urdu couplet to the one earlier recited by Swaraj, much to the merriment of the treasury benches while the fiery BJP woman leader smirked.

He said the Opposition chose to rely on what some embassy official wrote and follow a dangerous path since anyone can take cue from it and plant such diplomatic message and leak them to create trouble if the political parties in India spar on such issues.

He said the Parliament should reflect on this.

The Opposition on Wednesday targeted the Pm over the cash-for-vote scandal, accusing him of feigning ignorance, while the government countered it by alleging that the BJP had stage-managed the entire matter.

Opposition Leader in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said the cable of WikiLeaks is a narrative of an incident and the diplomat concerned did not have any enmity with the minister concerned in United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to send such a cable.

She said it was never expected that this cable will be in public domain.

Targeting the PM directly, Swaraj said, ?’It is the prime minister’s habit to say he was not aware. It is also his habit to say neither him nor his party had done anything wrong.?

Other Opposition parties also joined in slamming the PM.

“There is a cloud of suspicion, please come clear,” said Communist Party of India (CPI) lawmaker Gurudas Dasgupta, urging the Prime Minister to not fall back on the numbers (PM had boasted the win in elections after 2008 July controversy on buying lawmakers to save his government).

“I request the PM not to fall back on numbers. It is a lame excuse. Destiny has been timed to them, but history may be cruel. History does not repeat itself,” he said.

He said the PM should come clear and decide his option to make sure that his governments are not to go down as the most tainted in the history.