Revelations by WikiLeaks
The Congress Party had worked to support the government in the vote and on 17 March 2011 WikiLeaks revealed[9] that Nachiketa Kapur, a Congress Party political aide, had boasted to US Embassy officials in July 2008 that his party had funds to bribe MPs in order to obtain a favourable outcome. Kapur claimed that four MPs who were members of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) had already been paid off. The Hindu reported that
Five days before the Manmohan Singh government faced a crucial vote of confidence on the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal in 2008, a political aide to Congress leader Satish Sharma showed a U.S. Embassy employee “two suitcases containing cash” he said was part of a bigger fund of Rs. 50 crore ($13 million) to Rs. 60 crore ($15 million) that the party had assembled to purchase the support of MPs."[10]
Former United States Ambassador to India David Campbell Mulford commented that US diplomatic cables were "generally accurate" but that all he could recall of the incident was that someone "turned out with a suitcase of money and dumped it on the table ... That was clear theatrics."[11] In denying any wrongdoing, the RLD pointed out that they only had three MPs at the time, not four as stated in the leaked cable.[12] Satish Sharma, who was the person for whom Kapur acted as an aide according to the cable, said that he had no aide at all.[13]
The revelations led immediately to further calls for the resignation of Manmohan Singh and also for an investigation of the activities of Kapur and Sharma. There were also calls for the issue of a First Information Report (FIR), which is the formal means by which the police record their notification of an offence.[14]
It was announced on the following day, 18 March, that the police investigation into the original allegations was near to completion.[8]
[edit] Tehelka expose
Tehelka, a sometimes controversial publication that specialises in exposés, reported that the entire affair was a BJP set-up designed to entrap members of the government. The report was based on an account given by Siddharth Gautam, a CNN-IBN reporter who had been involved, and on some recordings of telephone conversations that had not previously been made available.[15]
The Congress Party had worked to support the government in the vote and on 17 March 2011 WikiLeaks revealed[9] that Nachiketa Kapur, a Congress Party political aide, had boasted to US Embassy officials in July 2008 that his party had funds to bribe MPs in order to obtain a favourable outcome. Kapur claimed that four MPs who were members of Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) had already been paid off. The Hindu reported that
Five days before the Manmohan Singh government faced a crucial vote of confidence on the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal in 2008, a political aide to Congress leader Satish Sharma showed a U.S. Embassy employee “two suitcases containing cash” he said was part of a bigger fund of Rs. 50 crore ($13 million) to Rs. 60 crore ($15 million) that the party had assembled to purchase the support of MPs."[10]
Former United States Ambassador to India David Campbell Mulford commented that US diplomatic cables were "generally accurate" but that all he could recall of the incident was that someone "turned out with a suitcase of money and dumped it on the table ... That was clear theatrics."[11] In denying any wrongdoing, the RLD pointed out that they only had three MPs at the time, not four as stated in the leaked cable.[12] Satish Sharma, who was the person for whom Kapur acted as an aide according to the cable, said that he had no aide at all.[13]
The revelations led immediately to further calls for the resignation of Manmohan Singh and also for an investigation of the activities of Kapur and Sharma. There were also calls for the issue of a First Information Report (FIR), which is the formal means by which the police record their notification of an offence.[14]
It was announced on the following day, 18 March, that the police investigation into the original allegations was near to completion.[8]
[edit] Tehelka expose
Tehelka, a sometimes controversial publication that specialises in exposés, reported that the entire affair was a BJP set-up designed to entrap members of the government. The report was based on an account given by Siddharth Gautam, a CNN-IBN reporter who had been involved, and on some recordings of telephone conversations that had not previously been made available.[15]
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