Angry over bribe, Opposition prevents PM from completing speech

New Delhi, Jul 22 (UNI) Even though the UPA government won the trust vote, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh could not read his reply to the trust vote debate in the Lok Sabha today as the opposition created ruckus demanding his resignation/sacking on moral ground in view of the ''bribe money'' paid to three BJP MPs.

The Lok Sabha, which witnessed the unprecedented scene of ''bribe money'' being presented before the House, witnessed noisy scenes and slogan-shouting by opposition members. BJP members trooped into the well of the House and demanded that the Prime Minister must take moral responsibility for this ''shameless horse-trading'' and resign or be sacked. Left front MPs vociferously supported this demand by the opposition.

The Speaker had earlier announced that Prime Minister would reply to the debate at 1830 hrs and voting was scheduled to take place at 1915 hrs, but as soon as the House reassembled, PDP MP Mehbooba Mufti, National Conference leader Omar Abdullah, LJSP MP Ranjeeta Ranjan, TDP leader Yerrannaidu and many other MPs spoke on the motion.

The Prime Minister started his speech at 1930 hrs but due to slogan-shouting by opposition members, nothing was audible. After speaking for a few minutes, the Prime Minister laid his reply on the table of the House and the voting process started.

----------------------- UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi's daughter Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and her husband Robert Vadra were present in the vistors' gallery and witnessed the entire debate. As soon as the electronic voting process was over, they were seen moving out. However, someone told them that the voting process was not yet complete and slips would be given to those who could not vote electronically. Following this, they remained in the House till the voting was completed.

--------------- Pappu Yadav of RJD, who was brought from Tihar Jail to vote for the confidence motion, had to shift to the front row as he could not fit into his allotted seat in the seventh row. The jailed MP has put on a lot of weight and is suffering from many diseases.

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