Ghost of bribes for MPs returns to haunt government

New Delhi, Mar 17 (PTI) The ghost of bribes for MPs'
votes returned to haunt the Indian government on Thursday with
the entire Opposition demanding its resignation over
allegations that United Progressive Alliance-I purchased the
support of lawmakers to survive the trial of strength at the
height of crisis over Indo-US nuclear deal in 2008.
On top of several scams that had surfaced in the last
few months, the government faced a torrid time in Parliament
on Thursday with Opposition targeting it on the manner in
which it won the vote of confidence in 2008 after the Left
parties had withdrawn support to it opposing the Indo-US
nuclear deal.
Both the Houses of Parliament were repeatedly rocked
by uproar and adjournments by the Opposition members who
demanded the resignation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and
his government saying it did not have any right to continue
even for a moment as it was surviving on "political and moral
sin".
The Right and and the Left combined in Parliament
whenever it met during the day to launch an assault armed with
the claim in a US diplomatic cable revealed by Wikileaks that
an aide of former Union Minister Satish Sharma had shown to
the diplomat currency chests that were part of Rs.50 crore to
Rs.60 crore money collected by Congress for purchase MPs for
the vote in the Lok Sabha.
The only defence that the government came out with was
when Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told Indian Parliament
that a diplomat's cable enjoyed immunity and he could not not
confirm or deny its contents.
"Each Lok Sabha, the Lower House of Parliament, is
sovereign in its tenure. What happened in the 14th Lok Sabha
cannot be judged during the tenure of the present House.
Government of the day is accountable to the 15th Lok Sabha and
not not to the 14th Lok Sabha.
"Whatever has happened in the 14th Lok Sabha has come
to an end with the end of its tenure," the Leader of the House
said but the opposition members were not not in a mood to
accept his contention.
The Congress party attacked BJP and other parties for
disrupting Parliament over the issue and claimed "the whole
world has rejected the Wikileaks reports".
As the storm was blowing in Parliament, two key
players--Satish Sharma and his supposed political aide
Nachiketa Kapur--named in the cable sent to the State
Department by US Charge d'Affaires Steven White on July 17,
five days before the confidence vote, denied their role.
Sharma, whose name had cropped up in the JMM MPs
bribery case in 1990s also, said he never had Kapur as his
aide at any time ever in the past or now now and that the
contents in the Wikileaks cable were "baseless".