All the above six betrayals are part of a conspiracy to make the outcome of the trust vote irrelevant to an international deal which, as the BJP has pointed out in its statement of July 17, 'has serious implications for India's national security in perpetuity.' The BJP has rightly asked the government why it has hurriedly sent a team of officials to meet the IAEA secretariat in Vienna for a meeting on July 18 -- barely four days before the trust vote in Parliament on July 22. It has also demanded that 'all further action in respect of the nuclear deal be suspended by the government until it proves its majority on the floor of the House, in keeping with the moral standards and political norms of parliamentary democracy.'
But does the Congress care for moral standards when, according to CPI leader A B Bardhan, it is indulging in horse-trading by offering Rs 25 crore to each non-UPA MP willing to support the government? When it is trying to seek the support of five MPs imprisoned for their role in heinous crimes?
And does the prime minister care for norms of parliamentary democracy when he has, with his brinkmanship, destabilised his own government and forced his party to resort to the most corrupt practices known in the history of Parliament in order to ensure its survival on July 22. The only thing he seems to care for is laddoos in both hands; and he seems to think that he will have at least one, the nuclear deal, even if he loses the other -- his government.
