The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has reiterated its demand that the net be cast wide in the cash-for-vote scam probe so that the bribing of more members of Parliament is exposed.
Reacting to the arrest of Amar Singh and two former BJP MPs, the Polit Bureau on Wednesday said the action followed the Supreme Court directive to the Delhi Police to expedite investigation.
It said that during the July 2008 trust vote, a number of MPs were induced to defect to the government side and at least 19 Opposition MPs violated the whip.
“Many of them were subsequently disqualified. It is well known that they were bribed or intimidated to do so. The case of the three MPs who produced cash on the floor of the House [Lok Sabha] is only one small part of the overall operation undertaken by the ruling party and its allies to bribe and suborn MPs. Obviously, Mr. Amar Singh was not acting alone,” said the CPI(M) statement.
Earlier, CPI parliamentary party leader Gurudas Dasgupta said since some people benefited by the cash-for-vote, the Congress and the Prime Minister, as leader of the government, should clarify at whose behest Mr. Amar Singh had acted.
“He could not have acted on his own,” Mr. Dasgupta said adding a person, who had been given top category security by the government, was now sent to jail.
“Right man is in the right place and speaks to how the government was protecting criminals.”
