Soon after the UPA Government won the trust vote on Tuesday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh termed the victory as convincing and hinted that his government would now go full steam ahead to clinch the nuclear deal with the US.
“The Parliament has spoken and sent out an important message to the world that India is ready to take its rightful place in the comity of nations,”the PM said. “We can only go forward from here,” Dr Singh added, indicating that New Delhi would now step up its efforts to get the deal through before the change of regime in Washington.
The PM said that he was saddened by the allegation from three BJP MPs that they had been offered money to vote for the UPA Government. “The matter is now with the Speaker. We have faith in him and he will do what is right.”
Congress leaders and workers went into celebration mode at the party headquarters on Akbar Road as well as in front of the AICC president Sonia Gandhi’s residence at 10 Janpath, soon after Speaker Somnath Chatterjee declared the results of the trust vote.
Congress MP Rahul Gandhi said that the victory showed that the UPA Government had taken the right decision and the Prime Minister had done the right thing.
There were celebrations in front of the office of the Samajwadi Party (SP) and residence of the party’s general secretary Amar Singh, who played a key role in salvaging the UPA Government after the pullout by the Left parties.
“It is both the happiest as well as the saddest day of my political life. It is happy because the Left Front and BJP have been defeated. Now they have to respond to the nation. But they assassinated my character. That is why I am sad,” Singh said.
The offices of the BJP and its allies appeared deserted. “The Government scored the numerical victory, but lost on moral grounds,” said the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, L K Advani. Advani said that the victory had only validated the belief that money power was used to secure votes. “Earlier, there were only suspicions, but Tuesday’s episode has validated the fact that money was used,” he said.
CPI general secretary A B Bardhan alleged that the UPA had won the trust vote by unethical means.
“The UPA Government has won the trust vote in the House, but lost the confidence of the people as it resorted to unethical means to win,” he said.
