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New Delhi: Speaker Somnath Chatterjee held an all-party meeting of MPs in his chamber immediately after the Lok Sabha was adjourned when BJP members flashed wads of notes alleging that three of their MPs were being bribed by the ruling coalition to abstain in the trust vote.

The Government is expected to make a statement in the House on the allegations. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is to reply to the debate on the trust vote after which the confidence motion will be put to vote.

Meanwhile, the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is holding a meeting to discuss the allegation of bribery levelled by the Opposition.

The Lok Sabha was shocked when a BJP MP walked into the well with a bag full of currency notes and claimed a Samajwadi Party leader had given him the money in return for his support in the trust vote.

As the House broke into pandemonium, Deputy Speaker Charanjit Atwal adjourned the House briefly. Ashok Argal, MP from Morena, and some other BJP members took out wads after wads of currency notes to prove that MPs had been “purchased”.

Senior BJP leader L K Advani demanded a detailed investigation by the Lok Sabha Speaker into allegations that three of his MPs were offered Rs 9 crore by Samajwadi Party for abstaining during the trust vote.

"On the basis of whatever happened (on the floor of the House), we can demand from the Speaker, that as the issue is so serious, that a detailed investigation should be done," Advani told reporters here.

The big debate

RJD chief and Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, the most eagerly awaited speakers on the vote of confidence motion debate, had the treasury benches and Speaker Somnath Chatterjee smiling when he said that the "rakshasas" (Opposition) would be vanquished at “gau bela" (dusk) in the trust vote.

"The rakshasas are always vanquished at gau bela. And today too, the enemy will be defeated at gau bela. But the voting should take place just at after dusk, at 6 p.m., at gau bela."

Gau, or cow, bela is the time the cows are herded back to their sheds after being allowed to graze in the fields the whole day. Voting on the trust vote is scheduled for 6 p.m. and Lalu Yadav appealed to the Speaker not to change the time of voting.

He also targeted those opposing the deal, especially the Left, saying they wear "Made in America" watches and send their children to the US for studies even while railing against the US.

Rahul interrupted, gets just 10 minutes

Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, his speech cut interrupted by the Opposition, spoke earlier and linked energy security to maintaining 9 per cent growth and ending poverty in his speech during the debate on the UPA Government's trust motion.

“Energy is needed for nine percent growth rate. Without (adequate energy), growth will stop,” he said before his was repeatedly interrupted by the Opposition, forcing Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to adjourn the Lok Sabha till 2 p.m.

“I was thinking about what I want to say and I came to a simple conclusion. I decided that it is important at this point not to speak as a member of a political party but to speak as an Indian,” said Rahul.

He didn't get the 10 minutes and didn't once mention the India-US civil nuclear deal in the few minutes that he had before the interruptions.

"You can continue (your interruption) after lunch," an exasperated Chatterjee exclaimed, adjourning the house at 12.57 p.m.

Rahul was speaking in favour of the nuclear deal when BSP leader Brajesh Pathak stood up and shouted that that four of his party colleagues had been kidnapped and the House must take note of his complaint.

Pathak, BSP leaders Akbar Dumpy and Illyas Azami angrily waved some papers. As the din continued, Rahul could not conclude his speech and after speaking to his mother and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left the House.

“Yesterday, I was thinking why we are meeting here. Why this house needs to meet. I came to the conclusion that we are meeting because there is a serious problem in India and the problem is our energy security,” he said.

He didn't get the 10 minutes and didn't once mention the India-US civil nuclear deal in the few minutes that he had before the interruptions.

Next page: FM pits India against China

Chidambaram budgets for N-deal

Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday said that the 2007-08 growth rate of the country was pegged at over 9.1 per cent giving a “resounding start to the 11th five-year plan”.

Joining the debate on the vote of confidence for the UPA Government, Chidambaram said that the Government had, in the last four years, sustained a growth rate of 8-9 percent.

“Show me any other four-year period in which so much has been achieved,” Chidambaram challenged the opposition. The growth rate during the six years of rule of the BJP-led NDA Government was just between 5-6 percent.

“2007-08 is a watershed year not only in our growth rate but also for a record production of wheat, rice and other foodgrains,” he said.

But in the same tone, the minister said that the suicides by farmers were worrying. “We hang our heads in shame each time there is a farmer suicide anywhere.”

Swiping at the Left parties, Chidambaram cited China's ambitious nuclear power plans to push the India-US nuclear deal, saying “there are some people in India who do not want us to catch up with China".

“There are some people in this country who do not want us to get ahead of China,” he said on the second day of the trust vote debate.

His remarks predictably elicited howls of protest from Left MPs who are known to profess sympathy for China for ideological reasons.

Making a strong pitch for India to step up its nuclear power production, Chiadambaram pointed out that China had planned to increase its nuclear power production six-fold to 50,000 MW by 2020.

China, which now relies on nuclear power for only two per cent of its energy needs, has ambitious plans to scale up its nuclear power production capacity to 160,000 MW by 2030, he added.

Saying that India should compare itself to “large and complex countries” like China, the finance minister touted India's ambitions to become an economic superpower to hardsell the contentious nuclear deal, which is being opposed by the Left parties who charge it will make India a pawn of Washington.

“I don't want to envy China. I want to emulate China. I want India to become an economic superpower. We must aspire to greater heights,” Chidambaram said, while stressing that the purpose of the deal was to end India's nuclear isolation.

"When we talk about India, we should talk about countries which are as large and as complex as India and that is China. We cannot talk about countries which are smaller than India and poorer than India."

China has yet to take an official stand on the India-US nuclear deal, but Indian officials are hopeful that Beijing will not come in New Delhi's way in the way of the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group amending its laws to enable the resumption of nuclear commerce after a three-decade hiatus.

Chidambaram also sought to expose the opposition BJP's doublespeak on the nuclear deal, saying it had been initiated during the previous NDA regime.

Parliament proceeding began with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arriving at the House flashing the victory sign. Singh smiled and looked confident hours before the trust vote that will decide the fate of his Government.

Meanwhile the BJP made moves to seek disqualification of at least two of its rebel MPs to send a tough signal to other fence-sitter MPs about defying the party whip and not voting against the UPA Government. The party wrote to Speaker Somnath Chatterjee Tuesday morning seeking disqualification of its MP from Balrampur (UP) Braj Bhushan Sharan Singh and another rebel MP from Gujarat, Sombhai Patel.

(With inputs from IANS, PTI and UNI)

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