Cong MP claims Rajya Sabha seat sold for Rs 100 cr, 'speak for yourself', says BJP

In a startling claim, Congress Rajya Sabha MP Birendra Singh today claimed that seats in the Upper House of Parliament were up for sale and if anyone had Rs 100 crore to spare they could buy it. Times Now quoted the Congress MP from Haryana as saying at an official party function that seats in the Rajya Sabha could be bought for Rs 100 crore. “I was once told that to be a Rajya Sabha MP a person was asked to pay Rs 100 crore for a seat but he paid only Rs 80 crore and saved Rs 20 crore,” Singh said. [caption id=“attachment_993131” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Reuters[/caption] The MP said that if any Parliamentarian who paid that much for the seat he would not have any concern for the poor. Singh, who was recently made a member of the Congress Working Committee is alleged to have said that everyone was in politics for either money or posts However, the MP later claimed that his comments had been misinterpreted and said he had only highlighted how the plight of the poor was ignored by those who entered Parliament purely on money power. “I have made a mention after Lok Sabha elections of 2009, 362 candidate were crorepatis…I said how money was becoming important in Parliamentary democracy. I said they will not be able to take up the cause of the poor,” Singh told reporters. He denied that he knew of any MP who had paid for Rs 100 crore and had not said anything about a seat being bought. It wouldn’t be the first time that allegations of in the Upper House of Parliament being up for sale have been made. A sting operation in 2010 had shown MLAs in Jharkhand ready to sell their votes for around Rs one crore each. In 2012 there had been a massive internal battle in the BJP over the party backing industrialist Anshuman Mishra as an independent candidate from Jharkhand, which was finally cancelled. Meanwhile the BJP was quick to hit back. Party spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Prakash Javadekar said Singh must be talking about himself. “Congress is in the habit of cutting out deals…Congress has brought politics in the country to such a low level,” he said. Singh was AICC General Secretary in charge of Himachal Pradesh but was dropped in the recent AICC reshuffle. There were strong speculation that he could be made a minister in the recent reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers. He is a know detractor of Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda. With inputs from PTI