NEW DELHI: The Opposition termed the Congress survival of July 28 no confidence motion as a pyrhic victory” accusing the ruling party of massive use of money, for engineering defections from other parties.
Leader of Opposition Atal Bihari Vajpayee said that the means adopted by the ruling party to counter the charges of corruption actually substantiated the allegations against the Prime Minister.
“They have won the arithmetic of voting but lost the moral bate. The ruling party fought corruption charges by indulging in more corruption.” Vajpayee said. Former Prime Minister V.P.Singh charged the Congress with blatant malpractices to win the no confidence motion. “But for the horse trading they indulged in the Government would have fallen. What happened in the Lok Sabha lobby its worse than booth Capiuring that take place during elections,” the Janata Dal leader said referring to the way the defected JD(A) member G.C.Munda’s signature had been allegedly obtained opposing the motion outside the Lok Sabha.
JD(A) leader Ajit Singh said that the Government side had sought to meet the corruption charges by Only resorting to compute practices. He alleged that defections had been engineered from the ranks of his party MPs “in commando operation by using cars and money,” JD leader George Fernaniles said that Rao’s silence on Bofors and the Harshad Mechta allegations had only betrayed his guilty conscience. “By his silence on Bofors and Harshad Mehia’s charges the Prime Minister has pleaded guilty.” Samajwadi Janata Party (SJP) leader Yashwant Sinha termed the Congress win a pyrrhic victory. “The ruling party has won the numbers game but forfeited the moral right to continue in power,” he said. Janata Dal leader LK .Gujral said, “The Congress has won the mathematical victory but suffered a moral and ethical defeat.” CPIM parliamentary party leader Somnath Chatter jee said that the corruption charges against the Government were corroborated by the defections that had been indulged in by the Congress.
Ram Lakhan Singh Yadav, leader of the breakaway JD(A) faction which yoted against the motion, said that by their action they had Not invited the provisions of the anti-defection Jaw, “The party whip was not applicable to us and we did the right thing by defying it,” he said. Asked whether money had played any role in the defections, he quipped. “If we had to take money we would have been with the Opposition and received the funds from Harshad Mehta.”
Article extracted from this publication >> August 6, 1993
