By IANS,
New Delhi: Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Gurudas Dasgupta Tuesday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh must clarify on Amar Singh’s role in the cash-for-votes scandal of 2008.
“Prime minister must clarify who has been behind Amar Singh in the cash-for-vote scandal,” Dasgupta said.
He said the moral responsibility of the episode lies with the prime minister as he is the leader of the government.
“It is a tragedy in the Indian democracy that the Indian government has power through fraudulent and dubious method. The moral responsibility lies with the leader of the government to clarify who is behind Amar Singh,” he added.
Meanwhile, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Brinda Karat said Amar Singh was acting on “someone’s behalf”.
“The question is Amar Singh was not heading the government, he was acting on someone’s behalf. On whose behalf he was acting, this should be investigated,” she said.
The then speaker of the Lok Sabha, Somnath Chatterjee, said in Kolkata: “Though many leaders knew that money had passed hands, nobody complained.”
“They (MPs) could have gone to the Delhi Police first or come to me as (I was) the presiding officer. I would have tried to do whatever I could,” he added.
Amar Singh, Rajya Sabha member and former Samajwadi Party leader, was Tuesday sent to judicial custody for alleged involvement in the attempt to bribe MPs ahead of the July 2008 parliament trust vote.
Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs Fagan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Singh Bhagora were also arrested.
On July 22, 2008, three BJP MPs waved wads of currency notes in the Lok Sabha ahead of a trust vote, alleging they were given the money to vote in favour of the Manmohan Singh government.