National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leader LK Advani on Thursday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to quit 'forthwith' and said he had lost the right to govern after leaked US cables revealed that the Congress paid money to opposition MPs to win a parliament trust vote in 2008.
National Democratic Alliance (NDA) leader LK Advani on Thursday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to quit 'forthwith' and said he had lost the right to govern after leaked US cables revealed that the Congress paid money to opposition MPs to win a parliament trust vote in 2008.
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"The NDA demands that this government has no moral right to continue and it should quit," the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) senior leader told reporters here as parliament plunged into turmoil over the WikiLeaks cables carried by a newspaper on Thursday.
Accusing the Congress-led government of 'political immorality', the former deputy prime minister said: "UPA I survived on the strength of political sin. The PM has no moral authority or legitimacy to lead the country. He must quit forthwith."
The published US embassy cable said that an American diplomat was shown a huge quantity of money by Nachiketa Kapur, described as a political aide to Congress leader Satish Sharma, meant to be given to MPs to vote for the government.
Some MPs, Kapur allegedly told the diplomat, had already been paid money.
Advani pointed out that the 2008 parliament trust vote related to the controversial India-US civil nuclear deal that threatened to topple Manmohan Singh's government when he headed the first UPA alliance.
"The American embassy was interested in the vote of confidence," the BJP leader said, and described the Congress as "a friendly party" in American view.
Advani rubbished Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's argument that a matter related to the earlier Lok Sabha could not be raised in the present Lok Sabha.
The clamour for the government's resignation, which forced adjournments in both houses of parliament, saw the Left parties, the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Samajwadi Party amongst others unite.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj said the issue had "shamed Indian democracy". She mocked the government saying "all this has taken place right under the nose of a so-called honest prime minister".
Samajwadi Party's Mulayam Singh Yadav, who had voted in favour of the UPA government in 2008, said: "I had also played a role in saving the government. This defames even me.
"If all are painted with the same brush, we will also lose face. Only a discussion on this matter can clear our name."
Communist Party of India (CPI) leader Gurudas Dasgupta added: "Never in the history of Indian democracy has such a news report appeared in newspapers. Money was paid to members. This is the murder of democracy.
"If the prime minister does not deny this he should resign immediately," the Left MP said amid the uproar in the house.
It was no different in the Rajya Sabha with BJP's Arun Jaitley stating that the "government survived on the basis of a political sin" and had no authority.
The government responded by saying it could not comment as the cables between the US government and its missions abroad were inaccessible for the government of India.
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