Cash for Votes

Tuning in to the TV set this Monday after I reached home in the evening, I was not surprised to see Rajdeep Sardesai talking live. What was surprising was, for once, he was making perfect sense. Also, there were stresses, pauses & modulation in his voice which, honestly, I've never seen before. What was the head of the award winning Indian english news channel doing standing alone in front of the camera without any guest or co-presenters? Well, it was time for the sensational cash for votes tapes to be made public.

Initially, Rajdeep was clarifying why they withheld the tapes all these days and, in his own words, why exactly they have decided to air the tapes on August 11. As mentioned before, he made sense to me for the first time. Then, the tapes were aired with subtitles & director's commentary with occasional comments from the man who was actually on the field for this sting operation.

Part I
The tapes showed Samajwadi Party MP Reoti Raman Singh in conversation with 3 Bharathiya Janata Party MPs Ashok Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste & Mahavir Singh Bhagora in Ashok Argal's residence at the midnight of 21-July. The jist of the matter here is Reoti Raman Singh was saying he has struck some sort of a deal for these 3 MPs with the SP chief Amar Singh over the trust vote and wanted all these 3 people to go with him right away to Amar Singh's residence to decide the terms and finalise the "amount". The BJP MPs displayed their reservations of going to Amar Singh's residence at such a late hour. Soon, we can see Reoti Raman Singh leaving.

Part II
We see CNN-IBN reporters waiting in front of 27 Lodhi Estate, which is Amar Singh's residence, on the morning of the trust vote. It seems the crew were informed by the 3 BJP MPs of their arrival time at Amar Singh's residence and even the make and the color of the car they come in. As informed, a white Maruti Zen arrives at 27 Lodhi Estate hours before the trust vote. After about 30 minutes, the same car was seen leaving the house.

Part III
Back to Ashok Argal's residence where the CNN-IBN crew were informed by the BJP MPs that Amar Singh has promised them of Rs.3 crore each if they vote for the government and someone from Amar Singh's side would soon come and deliver the token amount to them in Ashok Argal's residence. Some time later, a man named Sanjeev Saxena & his associate arrives at Argal's house with a black bag. Sanjeev Saxena places Rs.One crore on the table from his bag. The BJP MPs want him to connect them to Amar Singh which he does after some diffculties in the phone line. Ashok Argal confirms in the phone that he has received the token amount of 1 crore and asks when the token amount for the other 2 MPs will be delivered. Sanjeev Saxena and his associate leave and we can see Ashok Argal laugh in a muffled manner.

On seeing the tapes, I am not sure there is enough in it to implicate Amar Singh or the Samajwadi Party legally. But having said that, there is enough in the tapes to do damage to SP & Amar Singh politically, which I am sure the BJP are very good at. BJP General Secretary Arun Jaitley says they have submitted several phone records supporting to their claim along with the transcripts and the tapes. If these additional evidences hit paydirt, then its show time for the BJP and vice versa for SP. More importantly, it spells devastation for the Congress, who now have lost almost all the major states. Lets see how this transpires and hope the truth comes out to light sooner than later.

You can watch the tapes in the links below,
Video 1
Video 2
Video 3
Video 4