Cash for votes scam: Amar Singh says BJP arranged the cash that MPs brought to Parliament

NEW DELHI: Former Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh, who is in jail for his alleged role in masterminding the cash-for-votes scam, on Monday sought to put the onus for scripting the entire drama on BJP. Eminent lawyer and BJP MP Ram Jethmalani, while arguing in favour of Singh's bail plea, told the trial court on Monday that it was BJP which had arranged the cash that MPs brought to Parliament.

The court will give its order on Singh's bail petition on Tuesday.

To drive home his point, Jethmalani cited the certificate submitted by one of the three BJP MPs, now co-accused in the case. Speaking to newspersons after presenting his case in the court, Jethmalani said, "One of the accused (BJP MPs) has sent a certificate to this effect in his bail plea. This is what he has said. It is not mentioned in the chargesheet that he (Singh) has given the money,'' he added.

Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley, when asked to react on the development, refused to comment, maintaining that the matter was sub-judice. "Well this is the plea of the accused, he (Jethmalani) is only a lawyer, whatever plea a lawyer takes up in court, however false it may be, we normally don't comment on it because it is a matter pending in court,'' he said.

The argument put forward by Jethmalani had earlier been echoed by none other than BJP parliamentary party chief LK Advani. Raising the issue in the Lok Sabha on the concluding day of the monsoon session of Parliament, he dared the government to arrest him as he was in the know of the entire operation.

Amid repeated disruptions from Congress members in the Lok Sabha, the BJP Parliamentary Party chief made a strong defence of the actions of Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Bhagora, the two former BJP MPs in jail. "Whatever was done was done as per constitutional norms. If anything was wrong I would have stopped them,'' Advani had claimed.

It was evident during the Confidence Vote, he said, that the government was "trying to purchase votes. They were whistle-blowers who honestly reported the matter in the House. They presented the money. That time I was the Leader of the Opposition and I know the facts. I believe that these two members have done a great service to democracy by bringing in Parliament the Rs one crore given to them," he had said during Zero Hour on September 8.

He lamented that those who voted for the government "through dishonesty" by taking money are sitting here comfortably, "but my two friends who honestly served the country are in jail."

Amar Singh has sought bail on health grounds. The jail authorities last Friday submitted a medical record of the Rajya Sabha MP saying his medical condition was stable.