UPA's Survival On 22nd July? And Aftermath -2

[dhu]

Cash-for-vote scam: BJP lists evidence

[acharya]

<b>
‘BJP reaped what it sowed’</b>

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: The BJP got a taste of its own medicine when some of its MPs defied the party whip and voted for the UPA Government on Tuesday, Congress leader M. Mallikarjun Kharge has said.Addressing presspersons here on Wednesday, Mr. Kharge said the “BJP had poached MLAs from the Congress in Karnataka when it already enjoyed majority in the Assembly. But in Parliament the BJP MPs made a conscientious decision in the national interest and they were not coerced. The BJP had reaped in Delhi what it had sown in Karnataka.”

Asked if the Congress would take these BJP MPs into its fold, Mr. Kharge said that only the party high command could decide on it.

On the power crisis in Karnataka, the Congress leader said the State Government had showed no interest to “scout” for power in the country and instead it was resorting to unscheduled loadshedding.

The rural areas were experiencing 10 hours of loadshedding, while in urban areas it was eight hours, he said.

Mr. Kharge said the State was facing an “unmanageable power crisis”, but the BJP had promised free power to the farmers to get their votes. He said the various sectors were going to suffer because of this.

He said central Karnataka was already reeling under a severe drought and urged the Government to immediately take steps to alleviate the sufferings of the people.

[acharya]

<b>
H.T. Sangliana’s office attacked</b>

Staff Reporter

Bangalore: Around 60 workers of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday staged a protest against cross-voting by Bangalore North MP H.T. Sangliana. They later went to his office on Ali Askar Road and attacked it. The party workers reportedly damaged a board and broke a window pane.

Shankar Bidari, Commissioner of Police, said that Mr. Sangliana had contacted him early Tuesday and sought protection for his office and residence. Accordingly, police pickets were posted near his office and residence at Koramangala National Games Village. When party workers tried to barge into the office, an official prevented them from entering. However, three or four persons sneaked into the compound and tried to kick open the door, but were stopped by the police. A case has been registered in this regard at the Cubbon Park Police Station.

Mr. Bidari visited the spot along with Additional Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) M.R. Pujar. A police party has also been posted near the residence of Manjunath Kunnur, Dharwad South MP.

[acharya]

<b>
Out of BJP, into the Congress camp?</b>

Staff Correspondent

Manorama’s ouster may change political climate in Udupi

Udupi: The expulsion of the MP Manorama Madhwaraj (representing Udupi constituency) from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday, consequent to her abstention in the trust vote moved in the Lok Sabha by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday, is bound to change the political landscape in Udupi district.

The abstention by Ms. Madhwaraj has not come as a surprise. There were rumours in Udupi on Tuesday that Ms. Madhwaraj would either cross-vote or abstain. She finally chose to abstain. The reason for her abstention is not difficult to fathom.

Ms. Madhwaraj joined the BJP on the eve of the 2004 parliamentary elections. She had been in the Congress party for three decades. She was a Minister in the governments of D. Devaraj Urs, R. Gundu Rao, Veerendra Patil, S. Bangarappa and M. Veerappa Moily, in the State. She joined the BJP because she felt neglected in the Congress. A prominent leader of the Mogaveera (fishermen) community, she was given the Lok Sabha ticket for the Udupi parliamentary seat in 2004, which she won.

What infuriated BJP leaders in the district was her open support to the movement against the coal-based thermal power plant being set up at Yellur in Udupi district.
Congress reaction

The President of Udupi District Congress Committee M.A. Gafoor told The Hindu that Ms. Madhwaraj never felt comfortable in the BJP. “She is most welcome if she wants to join the Congress. We have not struck any deal with her. Her abstention (in the trust vote) was out of her own volition,” he said.

The expulsion of Ms. Madhwaraj is bound to have political repercussions in the district. The votes of the Mogaveera community would count a lot in the next parliamentary elections because the community is present in significant numbers in Kundapur, Udupi, and Kaup Assembly segments of the newly-formed Udupi-Chikmagalur parliamentary seat. To top it all, Ms. Madhwaraj is a good orator and a formidable leader. The BJP’s loss may well be the Congress’s gain, if she joins the latter.

[acharya]

<b>
Vote was against BJP: Kunhalikutty</b>

Staff Reporter

MALAPPURAM: The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has said that its vote in favour of the confidence motion moved by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at bay.

IUML State general secretary P.K. Kunhalikutty said here on Wednesday that his party had clear views on the nuclear deal and that <span style='color:red'>it could never approve of a deal with the United States of America. But, the party’s representative in the Union Cabinet, E. Ahamed, voted for the UPA only to keep the BJP out of power, he said.</span>

Addressing a meet-the-press programme at the Malappuram Press Club, Mr. Kunhalikutty said he was not sure about the context in which Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala had said that the IUML supported the deal. “The Left, which said it was never ready to make compromises with the BJP, has now condescended to vote with the BJP,” he said.

According to Mr. Kunhalikutty, a third front will always remain a myth. “Congress has become untouchable for the CPI(M) now. With whom will they make an alliance now,” he asked.

[acharya]

Things are coming out in the open now

<b> BJP questions Karunanidhi’s stand on power crisis</b>
http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/24/stories/...300400.htm
Special Correspondent

“The DMK should tell the public what it has done, instead of blaming the previous regime”



S. Thirunavukkarasar

CHENNAI: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday wondered why Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi should keep pointing at the acts of omission and commission of the previous All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam regime on the power front.

Reacting to Mr. Karunanidhi’s observation on the AIADMK government’s “failure”, S. Thirunavukkarasar, party national secretary, told a press conference here that the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam government was in its third year, and should tell the public what it had done on the power front instead of blaming the earlier regime.

When Mr. Karunanidhi’s criticism of BJP leader L.K. Advani’s remark, likening the United Progressive Alliance government to a patient at the intensive care unit of a hospital was brought to his notice, Mr. Thirunavukkarasar said there was nothing unparliamentary in Mr. Advani’s observations. “It was fair criticism. He had explained the condition in a lighter vein.”

Referring to the UPA government’s victory in the trust vote, Mr. Thirunavukkarasar remarked, “May be the patient is out of the ICU, but still in hospital.”
Call for changes in law

Pointing out that the Supreme Court’s order in the 1998 JMM case upheld the immunity of Members of Parliament from legal proceedings for their speeches or votes in Parliament, he called for changes in the law.
<span style='color:red'><b>
He termed Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati’s allegation of collusion between the UPA and the National Democratic Alliance in preventing a Dalit from becoming Prime Minister “a figment of imagination.”</b> </span>

[acharya]

<b>
UPA victory ‘immoral’: CPI</b>

Staff Reporter

KARIMNAGAR: CPI floor leader in the Assembly Chada Venkat Reddy has termed the UPA government’s victory in the vote of confidence ‘unethical and immoral’.

Terming the trust vote victory as a ‘black day’ in Indian democracy, he said democracy was put at stake by the Congress by luring MPs with money and betraying the confidence of people. Talking to newsmen here on Wednesday, he stressed the need for revamp of political parties to protect democracy.
Agitation

Expressing concern over the defection of MPs of major political parties including the TDP, he said the Left parties alone were stable and there was no cross voting by their MPs in Parliament.

He said the CPI would chalk out agitational programmes against the nuclear deal, price rise and other anti-people policies of the Centre at the party’s State executive committee, which would be held in Warangal on August 1.

He said that they would launch ‘praja chaitanya yatras’ against the nuclear deal and educate people about the dubious tactics of the Congress government.
Natya Mandali meet

The seventh Andhra Pradesh Praja Natya Mandali State convention would be held in Karimnagar town from July 25 to 27 at Kalabharathi and Revenue gardens. Mr. Reddy said the Praja Natya Mandali State convention was being held for the first time in Karimnagar district. CPI district secretary M. Venkat Swamy was also present.

[acharya]

<b> Left will come back to Congress fold: D. Srinivas</b>

Special Correspondent

‘Where else can they go? They have no other alternative’

TIRUPATI: APCC president D. Srinivas on Wednesday expressed confidence that the Left parties, which parted ways with the Congress, are sure to come back to the party’s fold sooner than later. “Where else can they go? They have no other alternative either,” he said.

Addressing a press conference in Tirupati on the sidelines of the State-level Seva Dal convention, the PCC president also asserted that even without the support of the Left parties, the Congress could win the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections with a comfortable majority.
Track-record

Asked about the polarisation of political parties in the State against the Congress, he sought to downplay the realignment and insisted that notwithstanding all these developments, the Congress with its good track-record in the State is sure to romp home with ‘clear cut’ majority.
<b>
Asked for his comments on the party succeeding in allegedly wooing two TDP MPs, D. K. Audikesavulu Naidu (Chittoor) and Manda Jagannadham (Nagar Kurnool), to its side and make them vote in favour of the Manmohan Singh government during the no-confidence motion, he strongly repudiated the charge and sought to recall their (MPs) own statements wherein they said they voted only as per their conscience.
</b>
Seva Dal rally

Addressing the Seva Dal workers at their State convention currently underway here, Mr. Srinivas sought to motivate the cadres by telling them that they have a key role to play.

[acharya]

<b>
Trust vote bought, not won: BJP</b>

HYDERABAD: The BJP State unit has demanded that Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee expel the MPs who indulged in cross voting in the trust vote in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.
<b>
The UPA coalition lost the vote on moral grounds and several moral and ethical questions are being raised on the trust vote. Stringent action should be initiated against those who indulged in bribing the MPs or else there is every possibility of such incident recurring, he said.

“The trust vote was bought, not won. It is a black spot on parliamentary democracy and the Speaker should make public the names of those who indulged in the deals that went behind the screen,” BJP State president Bandaru Dattatreya said.
</b>

[acharya]

<b>
Expelled BJP MP Maorama says N-deal not harmful</b>

Malpe (Udupi) (PTI): BJP MP from Udupi, Manorama Madhwaraj, who was expelled by the party for abstaining from voting on the trust motion moved by UPA Government in Lok Sabha on July 22, has said that <b>she chose not to vote against the government as she favoured the Indo-US nuclear deal.

Talking to reporters at her residence in Malpe near here on Wednesday night, she said that she believed the deal was not harmful to the country. Therefore she preferred to abstain from voting as she could not go against the party's whip to vote against the motion, Manorama said.</b>

On the party's decision to expel her, she said she was not bothered by it. However, Manorama said she had not received any communication from the party about the action.

She said she had decided not to contest in the next parliamentary elections and would continue to support the movement against the Nagarjuna Termal Power Project (NTPP) in the district.
<b>
Manorama was among the eight BJP Lok Sabha members whom the party expelled for bailing out the UPA Government during the confidence motion.
</b>

[ramana]

Community matching(picking candidates form the numerical majority community/group regardless of merit or party service) to win elections was first started by Congress in Andhra Pradesh in the fifties. Ever since then politcs has become hostage to group dynamics. Community leaders are confident that they can attain power and cut deals irrespective of partis or ideologies. This has reinforcd the group divisions in Indian politics.
The method was adopted to oust the Communists who were able to secure seats based on their work. So to defeat them majority commuity leaders were picked to bring in the vote.

Hugh Tinker in his book- India and Pakistan 1960.

[ramana]

The Telegraph, 24 July 2008

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->
Former MP settles scores with Naveen
OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
 
Good times: Chief minister Naveen Patnaik with Harihar Swain after the latter broke away from the Congress in 2004 to join the state BJD. File picture 
Bhubaneswar, July 23: Expelled BJD MP Harihar Swain today said he had voted in favour of the UPA government in yesterday’s trust vote to “settle scores” with chief minister and party boss Naveen Patnaik even as party activists staged demonstrations dubbing him a “betrayer”.

“Harihar Swain has betrayed BJD and deceived people of his constituency, who had elected him on the BJD symbol,” Naveen had said last night before expelling him from the party. <b>The chief minister’s reaction had its reflection in Ganjam, the home district of both Naveen and Swain, today as angry activists took out silent rallies and staged demonstrations at Berhampur, the headquarters of Ganjam district, and Aska.</b>

They burnt the effigy of Swain branding him a “betrayer” and alleged that he had brought shame to the district and Aska constituency, once represented by Biju Patnaik and son Naveen Patnaik.

BJD parliamentary party leader B.K. Tripathy said <b>steps were being initiated for Swain’s disqualification as a Member of the Parliament according to the provision of Anti-defection Act,</b> as he had “defied” the party whip and voted in favour of the UPA government.

Unfazed by the developments, Swain said he had not voted “for” the UPA government, but against “autocratic” Naveen. <b>Swain, who returned here this afternoon, stressed that he did not vote for money. “I have not voted in favour of the UPA, but against Naveen Patnaik. My intention was not to save the UPA government but to shock Naveen,” said the defiant MP, adding that he had been waiting for an opportunity to settle scores with the chief minister, who had earlier suspended him. </b>

<b>Reacting to Naveen’s statement dubbing him a betrayer, Swain said: “I have not seen a bigger betrayer than him.” </b>

<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

This kind of attitude is what leads to sarkar raj or dand neeti.

[acharya]

<b>SP not interested in joining the government: Amar Singh</b>

July 24, 2008 17:37 IST


In the aftermath of the United Progressive Alliance government winning the trust vote, the Samajwadi Party -- which played an important role in taking the Congress-led coalition past the victory mark � on Thursday chose to be diplomatic about joining the government.

Party general secretary Amar Singh [Images] said, "I am not the right person to answer the question whether the party would participate in the government. It is not possible to answer this question now but we are not interested in joining the government."

On being asked about reports claiming that the Samajwadi Party had demanded nine cabinet posts during Wednesday's meeting with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi [Images], Singh said, "We had an informal meeting where we exchanged greetings with each other. We have not discussed anything with her regarding any demand from our side."

Asked to comment about Samajwadi Party Member of Parliament Rewati Raman Singh's reported claim that he had asked Bharatiya Janata Party MP Ashok Argal to meet Amar Singh, the party general secretary said people are free to meet anyone they like.

"People are free to meet, but it is the context in which they do that is important. I don't remember meeting anybody. My house has been open to all, especially in the past one month when it has been under total media scrutiny. So I have nothing to hide," Singh said.

[acharya]

All these parties are the same - unable to understand the party system.

<b>
Dalit TDP MP expelled; no action against errant millionaire MP</b>

Mohammed Siddique in Hyderabad | July 24, 2008 15:47 IST

The expulsion of Telugu Desam Party Member of Parliament and Dalit leader M Jagannatham � who defied the party whip and voted for the United Progressive Alliance during the trust vote � is turning into a caste-related issue. That is because the TDP has taken no action against Chittoor MP and liquor baron Aadikesavulu Naidu, who also voted for the UPA.

"I have been singled out and targeted because I am not a rich person. The party has not taken any action against Aadikesavulu. Is it because he is a millionaire and arranges helicopter for (TDP chief) Chandrababu Naidu [Images] whenever asked to," Jagannatham alleged after his expulsion.

The party sources said that action was taken against Jagannatham because there were witnesses who saw him pressing the green button �signaling his support for the UPA � during the trust vote. But Aadikesavulu did not press any buttons on the electronic machine; he used a slip to vote.

"The party is trying to verify the record of the Lok Sabha to find out who Aadikesavulu has voted for. If it is proved that he has voted in favour of the UPA, we will take action against him," said a senior TDP leader.

Incidentally, Aadikesavulu met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] and TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu in Delhi on Wednesday.

The action against Jagannatham has evoked mixed response within the TDP. Some leaders including V Ramaiah, the chief of the Scheduled Caste wing of the TDP, has condemned Jagannath as a 'traitor'.

"He has voted in support of the UPA to stop a Dalit woman (Mayawati) from becoming the prime minister," Ramaiah said.

But some leaders believe that strong action against a Dalit MP might alienate the Dalit vote bank.

TDP workers held a demonstration at Jagannatham's residence in Hyderabad on Thursday and shouted slogans against him. Apprehending trouble, the police detained over 50 protestors.

[acharya]

<b>
Expelled BJP MP's residence attacked</b>

New Delhi (PTI): Activists allegedly belonging to the BJP on Thursday went on a rampage at the residence of expelled party MP Chandrabhan Singh who defied the whip and voted in favour of the Government in the trust vote.

About 100 people stormed into the North Avenue residence of the Lok Sabha member from Damoh (Madhya Pradesh) around 11 am when Singh was present at the house.

Shouting slogans praising BJP chief Rajnath Singh and senior leader L K Advani, the activists broke window panes and flower pots besides barging into the drawing room of the MP's official residence.

However, some policemen who rushed to the spot intervened and forced the intruders out.

Neither the MP nor his family members were injured in the incident.

<img src='http://www.hindu.com/2008/07/25/images/2008072555541201.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />
<b>
Expelled BJP MP’s residence vandalised</b>

Staff Reporter

— Photo: V. Sudershan

Alleged supporters of BJP attacking the residence of expelled party MP Chandrabhan Singh in New Delhi on Thursday.

NEW DELHI: The official residence of expelled Bharatiya Janata Party MP from Madhya Pradesh Chandrabhan Singh at North Avenue here was vandalised, allegedly by activists of the party’s youth wing, on Thursday. The police have arrested 29 people on charges of rioting.

The incident took place around 11-45 a.m. A group, allegedly comprising Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha activists, gathered outside the MP’s residence and shouted slogans against him for having abstained from the trust vote. Some of them turned violent and started breaking flower pots.
Security deployed

In the wake of attacks on Mr. Singh’s Damoh and Jabalpur residences in Madhya Pradesh on Tuesday night, security personnel were deployed at his residence here, but the protesters outnumbered them. They pelted bricks and damaged windowpanes and doors of the house. They also damaged a two-wheeler and vandalised the drawing room.

Mr. Singh, who was at his residence, locked himself up in a room to escape the wrath of the protesters. Talking to reporters later, he alleged that the attack was part of a conspiracy by senior party leaders to get him eliminated.

However, in a complaint to the police he did not name any leader. Based on the complaint, the police registered a case of rioting and arrested 29 protesters.

[acharya]

Go to PM or Sonia's residence for safety, BJP to defected MPs
Posted online: Thursday , July 24, 2008 at 06:50:14
Updated: Thursday , July 24, 2008 at 06:50:14


New Delhi, July 24: In the light of attack on the residence of a BJP MP allegedly by some of its activists, the saffron party on Thursday said such parliamentarians should seek shelter in the house of the Prime Minister or the Congress president.
<b>
"BJP would suggest to such MPs and advice them that instead of getting insulted in public it would be better, from their security point of view, that they should go to their nearest camp to try and keep themselves safe," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.</b>

"In a democracy even the common man can show his anger towards them and we are also worried about their life and property," he added.

"It would be better if such MPs went to 7, Race Course Road (PM's residence) or 10, Janpath (residence of Cong president Sonia Gandhi) as it would be even better from their security point of view," Rudy said.

About 50 men, allegedly belonging to the BJP, attacked the North Avenue residence of Chandrabhan Singh, party MP from Damoh, for abstaining from the trust vote. Singh later blamed BJP president Rajnath Singh for trying to get him killed.

When Rudy was asked whether he was trying to defend the attack on Singh, he said, "it is the duty of the Prime Minister to protect such MPs. It was the duty of the Prime Minister to protect all MPs including those who defected from the BJP."

[acharya]

<b>
'Bonded slave' PM has chosen his master as well: Yechury </b>
Agencies
Posted online: Thursday , July 24, 2008 at 05:38:52
Updated: Thursday , July 24, 2008 at 05:38:52


New Delhi, July 24: Striking back at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the CPM said it was strange that after four years of Left support, he has alleged that they wanted him to behave like a ‘bonded slave’.
<b>
"The Prime Minister has accused the Left parties as wanting to treat him as a bonded slave. Strange that it took him over four years of being the PM on the strength of the support of the Left parties to hurl such accusations,"</b> Politburo member Sitaram Yechury said in an editorial in the forthcoming issue of People Democracy.

The Prime Minister and the UPA government, he said, should have been a ‘bonded slave’ to the Common Minimum Programme and ‘not to anybody’.

He said the PM has charged the Left parties with not allowing him to complete all the negotiations on the ground that he would come back to Parliament before finally operationalising the Indo-US nuclear deal.

"The Left parties could not agree with this proposal for the obvious reason that once the deal is approved by the US Congress, the Indian Parliament would find itself in a completely untenable situation to strike down the deal."

Once the safeguards agreement is approved by the IAEA Board of Governors, then the deal is on an ‘auto-pilot course of implementation’, Yechury said.

"Stopping the deal, thus, required that it be stopped before the completion of the IAEA round," he said, contending that the Left has openly argued that the deal was against India's national interests.

Asserting that the government had no moral authority to carry forward the deal, the CPM leader said, "a rigged majority in the Lok Sabha through brazen horse-trading can, in no way, be considered an endorsement for the nuclear deal."

Alleging that many promises made in the CMP had not been implemented, he said, "those that have been initiated, happened with great reluctance. Only because of the pressure of the Left did the rural employment guarantee, forest rights for tribals, the right to information found a legal status."

"On each of these, the Manmohan Singh government showed a great deal of reluctance and their implementation is tardy, inadequate and mired in large-scale corruption," Yechury said.

He asked if this was the state of affairs with the promises made in the CMP, "what explains the desperate eagerness to rush the India-US nuclear deal, particularly when this deal does not even figure in the CMP."

"There can be only one explanation. Since he has chosen to describe himself as a bonded slave, he appears to have chosen his master as well," the CPM leader said.

Noting that a ‘large number’ of BJP and NDA MPs have voted in favour of the government or abstained, he said, "as the brazen horse-trading is utterly contemptible, so is the eager display of 'availability' of the BJP-NDA MPs.”

“Or is there something more than that meets the eye," he asked pointing towards ‘pro-US imperialist stand’ of the BJP with its opposition seen ‘more as posturing than real opposition. Did the BJP-NDA turn a blind eye to allow the government to win the vote? And, in the bargain, allow some of its MPs to make money’.

[acharya]

<b>
MDMK expels Ganesan, Gingee Ramachandran</b>

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Thursday expelled two of its founder-members and MPs, Gingee N. Ramachandran and L. Ganesan, from the primary membership of the party.

They had voted in favour of the confidence motion in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The MPs claimed that MDMK parliamentary party leader L. Ganesan had convened a meeting of MPs to discuss the issue of support to the UPA government. They claimed that two other MPs, owing allegiance to MDMK general secretary Vaiko, did not turn up for the meeting, which decided to support the UPA. An MDMK press release issued here stated that the two MPs violated the party whip to vote against the government, and hence the decision. It was issued by party leader C. Krishnan. The release recalled that the MPs were removed from the party posts in January 2007.

Mr. Ramachandran was the party’s deputy general secretary and Mr. Ganesan, presidium chairman. They had laid claim to the party name and symbol following differences with Mr. Vaiko and approached the Election Commission, which ruled that Mr. Vaiko’s party was the real MDMK, and allowed him to retain the party name and symbol. Addressing presspersons later, Mr. Ganesan insisted that he was the MDMK parliamentary party leader when he issued the whip on the morning of the trust vote.

The other MPs, who voted against the trust motion, had defied his whip. Mr. Ganesan said the question was whether the parliamentary party leader or the party High Command had the right to issue the whip. He had forwarded a copy of the whip he had issued and other details to the Speaker and would abide by the Speaker’s decision.

The MPs said they would hold discussions with party members and office-bearers before making their next move.

[Shambhu]

After 09, assuming NDA comes into power:

Consolidate arms purchases and gas bigtime with Russia. Left will not disapprove. Maybe some Leftwadis will join pro-Russian wing of NDA then. (Of course, it has to be a separate wing. Otherwise Leftwadis will not join, because they do not want to join anything which is "communal". But ex-communist-Russia-loving-ex-"communal" party may be a decent attraction for Leftwadis).

[acharya]

On July 22

July 22 will go down in the history of Indian Parliament as a remarkable day. MPs brandishing cash, cross-voting, mud-slinging and what not, marked the debate on the Indo-U.S. nuclear deal. The biggest loser was the BJP which once again proved its inability to offer an alternative — it could not even hold its flock together. The Congress, already gasping for breath, hasn’t won either. It will now be hostage to smaller parties. We already find the Sethusamudram controversy rearing its head.

Saurabh Sinha,

Bhilai

* * *

It is just that more number of MPs wished the UPA government to continue, for reasons best known to them. Many of them did not even know what the nuclear deal was all about. At least one MP was honest enough to say he did not understand it. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should not take his government’s victory as the country’s approval for the nuclear deal. It came at a huge cost — accommodating convicted MPs, pandering to corporates, etc.

N.G. Varadan,

Tirupati

* * *

Even important leaders did not speak anything on the nuclear deal, which was the topic of discussion. L.K. Advani and Chandrababu Naidu opposed it for the sake of opposing it. And the cross-voting proved that the Congress succeeded in luring some BJP MPs. To sum it up, the session was a big political game played by all parties and somehow the Congress emerged the winner.

Pailla Sucharita Reddy,

Kakinada

* * *

After every election, political pundits and media claim that Indian democracy has matured, the voters have become intelligent, and so on. All such claims were proved pathetically wrong by both the ruling combine and the Opposition.

P.S. Shetty,

Mangalore

* * *

The confidence vote moved by Dr. Singh proved the political mantra that there are no permanent friends or enemies in politics. Almost all the parties were seen in their true colours. They were least bothered about washing dirty linen in public.

S.R. Badrinarayanan,

Chennai

Shameful
<b>
It was really shameful and shocking to see three BJP MPs carrying money to the floor of the House and displaying it. They could have met the Speaker in his chamber or elsewhere to complain about the bribe allegedly offered to them to abstain from voting.</b>

Vanita Garg,

Panchkula

* * *
<b>
The people will never get to know the truth — whether the BJP MPs were actually bribed or not. </b>But the public display of money in Parliament and its impact will further erode the people’s faith in the elected representatives, and add to their indifference.

Ramadoss Magesh,

Chennai

* * *
<b>
The nuclear deal may or may not be good for India but its fallout has tarnished Parliament and brought shame to our democracy.
</b>
R. Krishnan,

Malakoff, France

* * *

The unexpected money display in Parliament brought shame to the largest democracy in the world. I wonder how much of the total money offered was brought to Parliament and why the BJP MPs did not expose the offer before the Prime Minister’s speech.

Rephin Kamal,

Chennai

* * *

Was the display of cash a shame on the MPs? No. It was a shame on us, you and me, who voted for them without ascertaining their credentials or on frivolous considerations. Let us identify the MPs and keep them out forever, even if it means wasting our vote. I hope the ‘none of the above’ option will be made available to voters soon.

B.H. Prabhakar,

Kolhapur

* * *

Notwithstanding the outcome of the trust vote, it was sad and shameful to see the deteriorating standards and quality of parliamentary debates. Many of the MPs did not do their homework on such an important issue. Many, I am sure, did not even go through the text of the nuclear deal. It is we, the voters, who are responsible for electing such people as our representatives. If things in Parliament have to change, we should change.

Narasimha Reddy,

Hyderabad