Indian govt, US N-deal survive confidence vote

In a no-holds barred onslaught at the beginning of his speech, Manmohan said Advani had to “atone for his sins” suddenly decided to visit Pakistan and there he discovered the “new virtues” in Jinnah.

“This has sent an important message to the world that India is ready to take its rightful place in the comity of nations,” the Indian Premier told reporters, flashing a victory sign and smiling as he emerged from parliament building.

“This government has an absolute majority and the confidence to go forward,” Finance Minister P Chidambaram said, hailing a victory for what he said was the government’s ambitious agenda to modernise and reform India.

“Now we have crossed a major bridge that is the Indo-US civilian nuclear deal. Now, we will move ahead on economic and social reforms.”

In what was seen as a last-ditch attempt to bring down the government, three BJP MPs took to the floor waving bundles of cash worth Rs30m that they said they had been paid for their votes.

“Manmohan Singh’s office has turned into a mart of corruption, where MPs are bought and sold. So much money has changed hands that it’s reached a new level of corruption in India,” senior BJP official Vijay Kumar Malhotra told AFP.

“But ultimately we are the gainers, and we will win the next general election,” which is due by May 2009 at the latest, he said.

The Revolutionary Socialist Party, one of the four left-wing parties that forced the vote, said the government’s win had “blackened” the face of Indian democracy.

“We do not recognise this as a victory. They won because of intense horse-trading,” fumed party leader T J Chandrachoodan.

Officials in parliament said Chatterjee had called in New Delhi’s police chief to investigate the bribery claims. The speaker also said the furore was a “sad day in the history of parliament.”