WikiLeaks: Indian government bribed lawmakers to win trust vote

[News_Editor]

WikiLeaks: Indian government bribed lawmakers to win trust vote

2011-03-17 23:10:17 GMT+7 (ICT)

NEW DELHI (BNO NEWS) -- India's ruling Congress party allegedly bribed MPs to survive a crucial 2008 confidence vote in parliament, according to a US diplomatic cable released by Wikileaks on Thursday.

The leaked cable, accessed by The Hindu newspaper through WikiLeaks, says a political aide to Congress leader Satish Sharma showed a US Embassy employee "two chests containing cash" to purchase the support of MPs ahead of a vote over a controversial India-US nuclear deal. He said that was part of a bigger fund of Rs. 50 crore to Rs. 60 crore (about $25 million) that the party had assembled for "pay-offs."

In the cable, dated July 17, 2008, sent to the State Department, U.S. Charge d'Affaires Steven White wrote about a visit the Embassy's Political Counselor paid to senior Congress leader Satish Sharma.

"Sharma's political aide Nachiketa Kapur mentioned to an Embassy staff member in an aside on July 16 that Ajit Singh's RLD had been paid Rupees 10 crore (about $2.5 million) for each of their four MPs to support the government," White said.

"Kapur mentioned that money was not an issue at all, but the crucial thing was to ensure that those who took the money would vote for the government," he added.

The UPA narrowly won with Prime Minister Singh getting 275 votes in favour with 256 against and 10 abstentions.

Sharma, who is described as "a close associate of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi considered to be a very close family friend of [Congress party chief] Sonia Gandhi," denied the allegations and said he never had Kapur as his aide. Kapur also maintained that he never worked for Sharma, whom he knew, but denied the diplomat's claim as "malicious allegations."

The WikiLeaks expose confirmed what the Left parties had been saying in 2008 that MPs were bribed to vote in favor of the government. As a result, the opposition is demanding the resignation of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance.

On top of several scams that had surfaced in the last few months, the Indian government faced a torrid time in Parliament on Thursday. The Congress party, however, attacked the opposition for disrupting Parliament over the issue and claimed "the whole world has rejected the WikiLeaks reports."

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