Indian Gov't Rocked by Arms Scandal

Opposition lawmakers called the prime minister a thief and shut down Parliament on Wednesday, demanding the government resign after videotapes showed officials purportedly receiving bribes to facilitate a fake arms deal.

Punching their fists in the air, the lawmakers stood before the elevated chair of the speaker, pointing angrily at ruling party legislators. As Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee entered the house, the legislators shouted, ``He's a thief,'' Press Trust of India reported.

The scandal claimed its first victim Tuesday night when the president of the ruling party, Bangaru Laxman, resigned after an Internet media company, Tehelka.com, released videotapes of him apparently accepting $2,175.

On Wednesday, Mamata Banerjee, chief of the Trinamool Congress opposition party and railroad minister, demanded that Defense Minister George Fernandes resign and threatened to quit the government if Fernandes stayed on.

The government's coalition partners rallied behind Fernandes, saying there was no need for him to resign since there was no evidence against him.

After the lawmakers forced the adjournment, Vajpayee told reporters there was ``something fishy'' about the tapes' release, but did not elaborate.

The videos portrayed a string of party, Defense Ministry and military officials discussing or receiving bribes from journalists posing as weapons contractors trying to push through a $870,000 deal for hand-held thermal cameras and other defense equipment.

The government suspended army Maj. Gen. P.S.K. Choudhury and three other Defense Ministry officials who appeared on the tapes.

Opposition Congress Party workers held demonstrations in the capital, New Delhi, and other parts of the country demanding the Vajpayee government's resignation.

In New Delhi, angry Congress workers pulled down billboards outside the ruling party office and set them ablaze. Rival Congress and ruling party workers also pelted each other with stones, before police arrived and chased them away with bamboo canes.












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