Will punish those behind cash-for-vote, says Gadkari

Two days after the Delhi High Court granted bail to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) members arrested in the cash-for-vote scam, the party leadership has threatened to take action against the beneficiaries of the scandal and the bureaucrats who filed false cases against party members.

While former MPs Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Singh Bhagora and senior leader L K Advani’s close aide Sudheendra Kulkarni were granted bail by the Delhi High Court on Wednesday, MP Ashok Argal was granted anticipatory bail.

“When we come to power, the people who benefitted from cash-for-vote would be sent to Tihar jail and FIRs would be filed against them. Those who should have been praised by Parliament for being whistleblowers were sent to jail for no reason. The bureaucrats who filed false cases against the whistleblowers would also have to give answers when we come to power,” BJP President Nitin Gadkari said at a function to felicitate those granted bail at the party headquarters here on Saturday.

The BJP president demanded that UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh apologise to the people and admit that they were the beneficiaries of the scam. During the vote of confidence in Parliament on July 22, 2008, the three BJP MPs had brought Rs 3 crore allegedly received by them to vote in the government’s favour.

“Getting bail is not the end of this issue. We are going to start an agitation both inside and outside Parliament. The court has very categorically said that the whistleblowers were not part of the conspiracy and didn’t take money for their own benefit. They have served the democracy by showing the money paid to them to vote in favour of the government,” Gadkari added.

Sushma Swaraj, leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, said the BJP would not rest until the three MPs and Kulkarni were not exonerated by the court and the guilty were not punished.