Ernakulam: Former MP of Ernakulam Sebastian Paul has made a shocking revelation where he said that he was offered Rs 25 crores to vote in favour of the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government in the no-confidence motion in 2008 after the Left front withdrew support to the government in protest against the Indo-US nuclear deal. The startling revelation was made in an article authored by Sebastian Paul in ‘Samakalika Malayalam’.
Sebastian Paul was a Left independent MP in UPA-1 from 2004 to 2009. Mr Paul in his article said that two persons had come to his residence (No 20, Rajendra Prasad Road) in Delhi while he was alone at his residence. One of them claimed that they are the emissaries of Congress leader Pranab Mukherjee.
“As an independent MP, the party whip or expulsion under the Anti-defection act did not apply for me. They approached to me to give a surprise for the CPI(M) as I was an independent MP who supported them from outside. They offered me Rs 25 crore if I voted in the government’s favour”, said Paul in the weekly that will hit the stands today.
“Vayalar Ravi who knew me from my college student in Maharajas college told me that my name was stuck off from the list of MPs identified by Mukherjee who could vote against the motion. Among the 5 independent MPs i commanded the higher ‘value’ as I was a CPM independent MP and that was the reason why the net was cast on me”, wrote Sebastian Paul in the article.
Mr Paul said that he did not fall for the offer as the money was unbelievable high and hence made him doubt regarding the authenticity of the offer. The incident also reminded him of the sting operation by a television channel a few years ago in which 11 MPs were caught accepting bribes for asking questions in the parliament.
Mr Paul says that he remembered the 2008 incident when news emerged recently that NCP’s Thomas K Thomas, an ally of the ruling LDF, offered Rs 50 crores each to two LDF MLAs – Antony Raju and Kovur Kunhumon to join the NCP Ajith Pawar faction, an ally of the BJP.
