Global coverage on the Trust Vote

For long, India has been the toast of foreign media as the world's largest democracy. But this time round, the country is making news abroad for allegations of "multi-million-pound bribe offers" to MPs and Mayawati's emergence as the PM-in waiting and the main challenger to the UPA government struggling to win a trust vote. The Independent said "multimillion-pound bribes, MPs serving jail terms and some in intensive care are among the arsenal of weapons being wielded in a dramatic battle". On a similar line, the Guardian observed, "Such is the uncertainty over the vote that a number of jailed parliamentarians — some convicted of murder — have been granted temporary release while other MPs allegedly been offered multi-million pound bribes to vote." The Guardian went on to say, "No one can predict any outcome apart from the continuing rise of Kumari Mayawati, who last year pulled off a surprise landslide election victory in the country’s most populous state." Matt Wade of the Sydney Morning Herald wrote, "A last-minute power play by the low-caste female political leader Kumari Mayawati has left India's Congress-led government scrambling for votes... the political clout Mayawati has demonstrated over the past few days has triggered renewed speculation she could emerge as the next prime minister, and the first from among India's low-caste community." The Independent observed that a key player to emerge in the drama of trust vote had been "the so-called Dalit Queen, Mayawati, the head of India's largest state, UP, who has vowed that her own caste-based party will also vote against the government". The report saw potential in the "Dalit Queen" as becoming the future PM. "Indeed, there are many who believe that if she plays her hand carefully, she could conceivably become India’s next prime minister." The Independent further pointed out, "The Congress has offered a cabinet post to Shibhu Soren, the leader of a small regional party in Jharkhand who was convicted and then acquitted of murdering his secretary. The alleged motive for the killing had been his secretary's knowledge of a deal Mr Soren had made with the Congress party to bring down the government in 1993."