India's ruling Congress party allegedly bribed lawmakers to survive a crucial 2008 confidence vote in parliament, revelations in a US diplomatic cable published by whistleblower website Wikileaks Thursday said. The leaked US diplomatic cable published by the Hindu newspaper caused a political storm with the opposition demanding the resignation of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance.
The cable detailed a conversation between a Congress party member and US embassy official which mentioned that a fund of up to 600 million rupees (13 million dollars) was formed to secure the support of parliamentarians for the confidence vote. Nachiketa Kapur, political aide of Congress party leader Satish Sharma told the official that four members of the regional Rashtriya Lok Dal party had been paid 100 million rupees each to ensure they voted to save the government, the cable said. The trust vote took place in July 2008 over the India-US nuclear deal after the government's communist allies withdrew support on the issue.
The UPA narrowly won the floor-test and went on to secure a second term in general elections the following year. The cable by the US Charge d'Affaires Steven White said Kapur had shown the embassy employee two chests containing cash and said about 600 million rupees was "lying around the house for use as pay-offs". Kapur had told the employee that "money was not an issue at all, but the crucial thing was to ensure that those who took the money would vote for the government". The latest revelations embroiled Manmohan Singh's graft-tainted government into a political crisis over another corruption scandal.
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