In the grips of a panic attack, the party received with eagerness, news from Patna that jailed Lok Janshakti party MP Suraj Singh alias Suraj Bhan Singh was today granted bail by the Patna High court.
Singh was in jail in connection with a murder case. Suraj Bhan and others were charged with having gunned down Rami Singh at Madhurapur-Purvatola under Teghra police station of Begusarai district on January 16, 1992.
Union Minister Ramvilas Paswan heads the LJP, a constituent of the ruling Congress-led UPA, which is facing a tough challenge in mustering a majority in the Lok Sabha after withdrawal of the Left from the government.
Suraj Bhan Singh was granted bail by a Division Bench comprising Justice Shivkirti Singh and Justice Abhijit Sinha who rejected stiff opposition from the prosecution.
Prosecution counsel Shyamseshar Dayal argued that two of the witnesses in the Rami Singh murder case, in which a fast track court had sentenced Suraj Bhan to life imprisonment on June 25, had deposed during the trial that he had personally shot the deceased in the temple. "The MP has criminal antecedents," Dayal said opposing the bail.
Suraj Bhan's lawyer Rana Pratap Singh, however, rebutted the charge and said the injury report in the case maintained that the deceased was shot in the back of his head. "No evidence of the MP's direct involvement in the murder exists," he contended.
This means one more MP will be certain to vote for the government which is fighting for every single vote.
But the news from Chandigarh was less cheering. Rebel Congress MP from Bhiwani Kuldeep Bishnoi today made it clear that he would vote against the UPA coalition in the Lok Sabha.
"I have been raising voice against the Congress-led UPA's anti-people policies. I don't want to commit political suicide and, therefore, there is no question of my voting in their favour," Bishnoi, younger son of former Haryana chief minister Bhajan Lal. Bishnoi, who has been suspended from the Congress, said he had recently written a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh citing ten objections to the Indo-US nuclear deal.
He said he had submitted his resignation to the Lok Sabha Speaker long ago, but it had not been accepted till date. "I fear that Congress may disqualify me anytime," he said.
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Bishnoi, who has been vocal against the Congress-led regime at the Centre and party government in Haryana, said he had been asked to appear before the Lok Sabha privileges committee for his alleged anti-defection activities. He floated his own political outfit, the Haryana Janhit Congress, in December last year.