Rajya Sabha tickets on sale ?
Source: The Sangai Express / Sarabjit Pandher / Courtesy : The Hindu

Chandigarh, July 29 2013: Ripples were created in the political arena, when senior Congress leader and Rajya Sabha member from Haryana, Chaudhary Birender Singh was attributed to have claimed that tickets to the upper house of Parliament were up for sale.

Singh, who is a known detractor of the Haryana Chief Minister, Bhupinder Singh Hooda, has been touring the State to mobilise people for the August 20 rally at Jind to mark the birthday of former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi.

Congress president, Sonia Gandhi is scheduled to attend this rally.

At one such workers rally in Jind on Monday, Mr Singh was shown by television channels as saying that one Rajya Sabha member has disclosed having spent Rs 80 crore on a ticket, though he had kept a budget of Rs 100 crore.

He was shown as claiming that the MP, whose name he did not disclose, had actually boasted about saving Rs 20 crore.

He was also shown talking to television crews, where he reiterated that there were many MPs, who because of their association with big money could easily find their way into Rajya Sabha.

Realising that his statement had snowballed into a major controversy, Singh retracted from his previous stance, saying that he had cautioned the voters about the emerging political class, which due to its money power had entered both house of Parliament.

He referred to newspaper reports that after the 2009 Lok Sabha polls as many as 360 crorepatis including a dozen and half multi billionaires (Arbpatis) became MPs.

Singh said that he also sought to caution the people about the dangerous trend where money power was gaining its control in Parliamentary democracy.

Such elements would only muzzle the voice of those who raised the issues of the poor and under privileged.

Singh, was "dropped" on the proverbial eleventh hour from being inducted into the Union Council of ministers, during last reshuffle, following a controversial speech where he accused the Hooda government of ignoring the scheduled castes and other down trodden in development schemes.

Singh was AICC's general secretary in-charge of the elections in Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, where the party returned to power.

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