The Hindu : National : My CD is authentic, says Uma Bharti

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Aug 06, 2008
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

National

National

My CD is authentic, says Uma Bharti

Vidya Subrahmaniam

Uma Bharti

NEW DELHI: Bharatiya Janshakti Party chief Uma Bharti on Tuesday took strong exception to the Bharatiya Janata Party’s charge that she had acted as “an agent” of the Samajwadi Party when she agreed to release a CD relating to the cash-for-vote scandal.

Insisting that the contents of the CD were “one hundred per cent authentic,” Ms. Bharti charged the BJP with attempting to destroy her reputation. “First they said the CD was fake, and now they are calling me an agent of the SP,” she said.

The counter CD released by Ms. Bharti on Saturday is said to have images of an assistant of a top SP leader going into the office of a senior BJP leader and returning with a heavy bag. Ms. Bharti had claimed at the time of the CD’s release that the footage implicated the BJP in the cash-for-vote scandal because it showed collusion between the BJP and the SP leader’s assistant, the key accused in the scandal.

The BJP launched a counter-attack on Ms. Bharti by pointing out that the CD itself contained proof that it was shot after July 22. This, in turn, demolished the suggestion that the money for the trust vote bribery came from the BJP’s office. BJP spokespersons pointed to a billboard inadvertently caught by the camera to make their claim. The billboard outside the BJP leader’s office congratulated the three MPs for resisting pressure to cross vote in favour of the United Progressive Alliance government.

On Tuesday, it was Ms. Bharti’s turn to question the BJP: “If the [contents of the] CD was shot after July 22, then the evidence against the BJP is stronger … Surely, an emissary [of the SP leader] would not dare to go into the BJP’s office after the trust vote?”

Ms. Bharti said a frustrated BJP was now accusing her of acting as an agent of the SP. The BJP would pay a heavy price for insulting her, she added.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National