The US Embassy on Thursday refused to make any comment on a set of diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks that show that the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government at the Centre had resorted to buying votes to pass the crucial 2008 Indo-US civil nuclear deal.
In a statement, the US Embassy said: ?The US Department of State does not comment on materials, including classified documents, which may have been leaked. We cannot speak to the authenticity of any documents provided to the press.?
The historic deal with United States allowed India access to American technology, fuel.
It 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.
Pushed hard by the Manmohan Singh government, 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.
The set of communiqu?s, or cables, between U.S. diplomatic officials — accessed by The Hindu daily — show that they were assured by Nachiketa Kapur, an aide of Congress leader Satish Sharma, that the party had gathered about Rs 50-60 crores to buy out votes to allow the deal.
According to the WikiLeaks cables, five days before the UPA government faced a critical vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha over the deal, Kapur had showed a U.S. diplomat to India two chests stuffed with cash.
Kapur also purportedly said that Rs 10 crore had been paid to each of the four MPs belonging to Ajit Singh’s Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) in return of their votes, revealed the cable dated Jul 17, 2008.
The cables detailed a visit by the U.S. Embassy?s Political Counselor to Satish Sharma, described as a ?Congress Party MP in the Rajya Sabha … and a close associate of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi considered to be a very close family friend of Sonia Gandhi.?
The Congress apparently had also made attempts to talk out eight votes from the Akali Dal but the negotiations did not work out. Efforts were even made to create divide within its opposing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Shiv Sena.
Satish Sharma assured the U.S. Political Counselor Prime Minister, Sonia Gandhi, and Rahul Gandhi were committed to the nuclear initiative and had conveyed this message clearly to the party.
But despite the efforts the U.S. embassy correctly predicted the government maintaining a slim majority in the vote.
?Our best guess at this time show the government maintaining its slim majority with the anticipated vote count at about 273 in favor, 251 opposed, and 19 abstentions. A similar analysis from the British High Commission tracks closely with our numbers,? read the cable.
The estimate came impressively close to the final outcome. The Manmohan Singh government got 275 votes in favour, 256 against and 10 abstentions.
With the government still facing heat from the Opposition over several corruption scandals, including the 2G scam and the Commonwealth Games swindle, this explosive leak is only set to make things hotter for the ruling coalition.