The Indian players who star in the cable have denied its claims. Pranab Mukherjee said in Parliament that he will not confirm or deny the contents because the matter ended with the last Lok Sabha (the UPA was re-elected in May 2009).
The BJP’s Arun Jaitley said that attitude proves "this is a government of cover-ups."
On July 22, 2008, Dr Manmohan Singh won the vote of confidence by a slim margin.
Five days earlier, a cable was sent by the US Charge d’Affaires Steven White, in which he described a visit by the Embassy’s Political Counselor to senior Congress leader Satish Sharma.
The cable states: "Sharma’s political aide Nachiketa Kapur mentioned to an Embassy staff member in an aside on July 16 that Ajit Singh’s RLD had been paid Rupees 10 crore (about $2.5 million) for each of their four MPs to support the government. Kapur mentioned that money was not an issue at all, but the crucial thing was to ensure that those who took the money would vote for the government." (Read entire cable here) | (Watch: Ajit Singh denies his MPs were bribed)
Mr White also says that "Kapur showed the Embassy employee two chests containing cash and said that around Rupees 50-60 crore (about $25 million) was lying around the house for use as pay-offs."
Ajit Singh has said that in contrast to the cable’s allegations, his three MPs voted against the government, not for it. Mr Sharma and Mr Kapur have clarified that they never worked together.
That didn’t dilute the Opposition’s determination to target the government for what Mr Jaitley labeled its "political and moral sin." Prakash Karat, who heads the CPM, said that the Left wants a criminal case to be filed immediately to investigate the allegations against the government. He also vowed to make this a major campaign issue in the elections to states that vote next month- they include Kerala, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. "We will show Congress stands for Corruption with a capital C," he said.
On behalf of the government, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in reference to the WikiLeaks cable: "Correspondence between a sovereign government and its mission enjoys diplomatic immunity. There is no question of denying or confirming." Pointing out that the UPA was re-elected to power in May 2009, he went on to say, "Whatever has happened in 14th Lok Sabha cannot be raised in 15th Lok Sabha."