Cash For Vote Scam
The UPA government with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at its helm in a bid to sustain its power and credibility went for shockingly bribed the MP's to win the confidence vote for a nuclear deal with United States. A deal which was outright opposed by BJP and CPI(M) parties in a view that US would have a larger say in looking after the nuclear programme. The prime accused Samajwadi Party bigwig Amar Singh and Sudheendra Kulkarni hatched a plot to bribe the three BJP MP's to win the confidence vote in Lok Sabha. Kulkarni former aide to LK Advani was the mastermind of the scam who was in touch with all the conspirators and during the illegal gratification when the bribe was paid to the MP's.
The scam came to the fore when the MP's waved a wad of notes in the parliament creating a ruckus. The situation led to the Somnath Chatterjee the former Lok Sabha speaker to order a probe inquiry to Delhi Police Chief. The parliamentary investigation referred to as Kishore Chandra Deo Committee found no real evidence against the accused involved in the scam. The Supreme Court questioned the efficacy of the investigation and reprimanded the police to carry out the investigation in its earnest manner. The BJP pounced on this opportunity and called for resignation of the PM and also slammed the CNN-IBN to not telecast the video coverage where MP's were exchanged money at their house.
The UPA government with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at its helm in a bid to sustain its power and credibility went for shockingly bribed the MP's to win the confidence vote for a nuclear deal with United States. A deal which was outright opposed by BJP and CPI(M) parties in a view that US would have a larger say in looking after the nuclear programme. The prime accused Samajwadi Party bigwig Amar Singh and Sudheendra Kulkarni hatched a plot to bribe the three BJP MP's to win the confidence vote in Lok Sabha. Kulkarni former aide to LK Advani was the mastermind of the scam who was in touch with all the conspirators and during the illegal gratification when the bribe was paid to the MP's.
The scam came to the fore when the MP's waved a wad of notes in the parliament creating a ruckus. The situation led to the Somnath Chatterjee the former Lok Sabha speaker to order a probe inquiry to Delhi Police Chief. The parliamentary investigation referred to as Kishore Chandra Deo Committee found no real evidence against the accused involved in the scam. The Supreme Court questioned the efficacy of the investigation and reprimanded the police to carry out the investigation in its earnest manner. The BJP pounced on this opportunity and called for resignation of the PM and also slammed the CNN-IBN to not telecast the video coverage where MP's were exchanged money at their house.
Delhi Police in its charge-sheet along with Amar Singh and Kulkarni, named two former BJP MP's Faagan Singh Kulaste and Mahabir Singh Bhagora along with Sanjeev Saxena former aide of Amar Singh and Suhail Hindustani alleged BJP activist who were in judicial custody.In Tehelka's revelation it was based on three crucial pieces of evidence: the first hand-account of the CNN-IBN reporter Siddharth Gautam, who actually did the sting on the ground.
The story also rested on 10 crucial phone recordings that have never been shared in the public domain and were not even made available to the parliamentary panel set up to probe the scandal. These phone recordings, now in Tehelka's possession, display BJP MP Argal frantically calling people and shopping for someone to buy him and the other two BJP MPs on the night of 21 July 2008, the eve of the nuclear vote. The intention was to somehow pull off a sting operation that could discredit the UPA government.
ajith nair
