Cash-for-vote: Cong for fresh probe

The Congress party has demanded a fresh parliamentary committee and CBI probe into last year’s cash-for-vote scam after expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh alleged that leader of the opposition LK Advani was “at the centre of the whole drama”.

“The incident of bringing cash into parliament is a serious issue. On behalf of the people, we demand to know who brought this money into parliament, who other than Advani knew the details, and from where and how the cash came,” Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said. While then Lok Sabha speaker Somnath Chatterjee had taken a stern view and ordered an immediate parliamentary probe, Singh’s latest revelations on the matter necessitate a detailed parliamentary probe “either by the same committee or a fresh one,” Singhvi said.

Singh, expelled from the BJP over his Jinnah book, had in an interview to a magazine, blamed Advani for allowing his partymen to carry the money into parliament during the trust vote. “Do you know this whole wretched thing of money for votes is a classic example of wrong decision-making and it’s extremely troubling that he did not stand up and say ‘No’. Advaniji was at the centre of this whole drama,” Singh told the magazine.

Singhvi said that if Singh’s accusations were true, it amounted to “a serious breach of parliamentary privileges”, adding “it is an issue of Prevention of Corruption Act and requires a CBI probe.” He also sought an “unconditional and comprehensive apology from Advani and the BJP to the nation.”