Allahabad: Union Minister Sri Prakash
Jaiswal on Friday hit out at the BJP for disrupting the Parliament
proceedings over the alleged 'cash-for-votes' scam in 2008
saying the opposition party might have paid bribes to topple
the UPA-I government during the trust vote at that time.
"The so-called Wikileaks disclosure says that bribes were
paid to MPs belonging Ajit Singh's Rashtriya Lok Dal. Had that
been the case, the RLD would have voted in favour of the UPA-I
government which was facing a vote of confidence. But the
party did not do so. This needs to be underscored," Jaiswal
told reporters here.
The senior Congress leaders said, "Not only the RLD did
not vote for the UPA, it also ended up siding with the BJP-led
NDA and the tie-up continued during the Lok Sabha elections
held several months later."
The coal minister said it appears that the BJP had paid
bribes to topple the government during the trust vote in 2008
"as the alleged payees ended up being on their side".
Jaiswal claimed that the BJP was "feeling desperate as
there seems to be no chance for the party to make a mark in
the four states and the Union Territory of Puducherry where
Assembly elections are due shortly."
A set of US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks has
claimed that an aide of Congress leader Satish Sharma
allegedly showed a US embassy employee "two chests containing
cash" and said Rs 50-60 crore is ready for use as "pay-offs"
to win the support of some MPs ahead of crucial vote of
confidence in UPA government over the Indo-US nuke deal.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, March 19, 2011, 00:03