New Delhi, Sep 6: The arrest of Amar Singh today brought BJP and other opposition parties together to target the UPA government and demand a deeper probe into its role in the cash-for-vote scam in 2008, alleging it was the “real beneficiary”.
The Opposition also demanded that the source of money allegedly used to buy votes of MPs should be traced to provide clinching evidence in the case and asked at whose behest was the former Samajwadi leader acting. Samajwadi party said Singh has been made a “scapegoat” by Delhi Police.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal rejected allegations UPA-1 Government was the beneficiary saying it did not need votes of three BJP MPs who claimed to have been bribed. He made it clear there was no need for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to make a statement on the issue.
Congress on its part said due process of law was followed and that the arrest of Singh and others was the culmination of a “very closely monitored” probe by the Supreme Court.
Leading the charge against the Congress, BJP said no action has been initiated against the beneficiaries of the scam while those MPs who were whistle-blowers in the case were arrested and sent to jail.
Describing the arrest of Singh as “a step in the right direction”, BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad, however, said initiating action against the whistle-blower MPs was “completely mala fide”.
Another spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain demanded a deeper probe into the scam, saying “now that it has been proved that the money was given to win the no-confidence motion.”
“Delhi Police should expand the ambit of its probe to find out the role of the Congress,” he said.
Left parties wanted the government to explain at “whose behest” was Singh working at that time.
“At whose behest was he acting. That (UPA-I) government was headed by the Congress party. Who were the other leaders ... the Congress leaders involved, because at that time, it was an open secret that so many MPs were being approached”, CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat said.
Samajwadi described the arrest of Singh as a “whitewash”.
Terming the arrest of its former leader Amar Singh in 2008 cash-for vote scam as a “whitewash”, the Samajwadi Party today alleged that he had been made a scapegoat in the case by the Delhi Police.
“He has been made a scapegoat. This is nothing but a whitewash by Delhi Police following strictures from the Supreme Court,” SP national spokesman and General Secretary Mohan Singh said here.
He said the Delhi Police should follow the apex court directives and find the source of the money which will be the clinching evidence in the case.
Asked whether the SP would raise the issue in Parliament, Mohan Singh said a decision in this regard would be taken tomorrow.
The party had expelled Amar Singh in February last year after he fell out with its leadership. PTI
