Thaindian News

New Delhi, Nov 18 (IANS) A day after he was let out of Tihar jail on bail, Sudheendra Kulkarni, the ex-advisor to former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, said Friday the beneficiaries of the 2008 cash-for-votes scam should be exposed.

Kulkarni said there were many questions that remain unanswered.

“The question that poses itself at behest of the bribe givers, what was there purpose… how did they arrange the money… All this truth has to come out.. the ultimate beneficiary must be exposed,” Kulkarni said.

The Delhi High Court Wednesday granted bail to Kulkarni, former BJP MPs Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahabir Singh Bhagora, Rajya Sabha MP Amar Singh’s former aide Sanjeev Saxena and alleged political activist Suhail Hindustani. Anticipatory bail was given to sitting BJP MP Ashok Argal, also accused in the case.

Kulkarni, the two former BJP MPs and Hindustani were released from Tihar jail Thursday evening after being granted bail.

“This is a collective struggle… of the three BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) MPs, two of them in fact struggled longer than I did, and also Suhail Hindustani. So it’s a party struggle, it’s a much wider struggle of democratic sources who want to know the truth,” he told a TV channel.

“One thing has been established is that money was given, nobody can dispute it. Those who took money, their intention was to expose. But those who gave money, their intention was to buy MPs to ensure the then government which had fallen into minority survived,” he said.

On July 22, 2008, Argal, Kulaste and Bhagora waved wads of currency notes in the Lok Sabha just hours ahead of a trust vote, alleging they were given the money to vote in favour of the Manmohan Singh government.

Saxena was accused of delivering Rs.1 crore to Kulaste, Bhagora and Argal under an alleged conspiracy to buy their votes for the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government in the trust motion.