Advani at the centre of cash-for-vote drama: Jaswant

Expelled Bharatiya Janata Party leader Jaswant Singh on Friday sharpened his attack on the BJP by saying that senior party leader L K Advani was 'at the centre' of the cash-for-votes scam drama enacted in the Lok Sabha last year.
 
"It is a great sense of pity. Here was a man who was consumed by an ambition to be prime minister, and that desire made him commit so many mistakes," Singh told Outlook magazine in an interview.
 
"Do you know this whole wretched thing of money for votes is a classic example of wrong decision making and it's extremely troubling that he did not stand up and say no. Advaniji was at the centre of this whole drama," he added.
 
Singh further said that Advani had two options to choose from, either to take the money to the Speaker or into the House.  
 
"I was not consulted, but I was appalled that Advaniji was giving the Members of Parliament the go ahead to display money in the Parliament," Singh said.
 
Singh was referring to the episode, when three MPs, Ashok Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Bhagora, stunned the nation by brandishing wads of cash in the Lok Sabha,  shortly before the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government was to face the trust vote last July.