WASHINGTON — A Texas grand jury indicted House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, yesterday on charges of conspiring with two political associates to inject illegal corporate contributions into 2002 state elections that helped the Republican Party reorder the congressional map in Texas and cement its control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

The indictment forced DeLay, one of the Republicans' most powerful leaders and fund-raisers, to step aside under House rules barring such posts to those accused of crimes. House Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., the third-ranking leader, was elected by Republican House members yesterday afternoon to fill the majority-leader position temporarily.

DeLay bitterly denounced the charges as baseless and defiantly called Texas prosecutor Ronnie Earle, a Democrat, "an unabashed partisan zealot" engaging in "personal revenge" because DeLay helped elect a Republican majority to the Texas House in 2002.

"Let me be very, very clear," DeLay said yesterday. "I have done nothing wrong. I have violated no law, no regulation, no rule of the House. I have done nothing unlawful, unethical or, I might add, unprecedented."

But the indictment, which comes after three rebukes of DeLay in 2004 by the House ethics committee on unrelated matters, unquestionably poses a major political problem for the 11-term congressman, a Bush administration loyalist. DeLay also faces a likely inquiry by the House ethics committee into a series of foreign trips he took that were initially partly paid for by lobbyists.

"The criminal indictment of Majority Leader Tom DeLay is the latest example that Republicans in Congress are plagued by a culture of corruption at the expense of the American people," said House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi of California.

The indictment specifically alleges that DeLay, who helped organize the Texas political committee at the heart of the charges, participated in a conspiracy to funnel corporate money into the 2002 state election "with the intent that a felony be committed." Using corporate money for state election purposes has long been illegal in Texas, as it is in 17 other states.

Earle's investigation of the contributions began after 17 Republicans who received money from Texans for a Republican Majority Political Action Committee (TRMPAC) were elected, giving the party control of the Texas House for the first time in 130 years.

One year later, following a road map that DeLay and his political aides drafted from Washington, the Texas House approved a sweeping reorganization of the state's congressional district map meant to favor Republicans. Then, in 2004, five more Texas Republicans were elected to Congress, enlarging the Republican majority in the U.S. House.

The indictment contends that DeLay conspired with two associates, John Colyandro and James Ellis, "to violate the Texas Election Code by contributing corporate money to certain candidates for the Texas Legislature." The indictment does not give any specific details of the alleged violation. Earle said that "those are issues of evidence that will be presented at trial."

According to the indictment, DeLay and the other two defendants agreed in September 2002 that they or TRMPAC would send corporate contributions to the Republican National Committee, which would then distribute the money to state legislative candidates in Texas.

The indictment said TRMPAC accepted $190,000 in contributions from several corporations, including Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Bacardi U.S.A. Inc.

If convicted, DeLay faces a maximum punishment of two years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

DeLay's attorney, Dick DeGuerin, said DeLay is so confident of his innocence that he will push for a swift trial. He said DeLay did not participate in a conspiracy and that the $190,000 was spent "on proper things."

The new indictment came after a 34-month inquiry and was issued on the final day the grand jury met, capping a series of indictments that targeted eight corporations and an industry group, the Texas Association of Business, alleged to have worked with the Texas committee in collecting and disbursing illegal corporate contributions.

DeLay spokesman Kevin Madden said ill motives lie behind Earle's investigation: "They could not get Tom DeLay at the polls. They could not get Mr. DeLay on the House floor. Now they're trying to get him into the courtroom. This is not going to detract from the Republican agenda."

In Austin, Earle said he was not politically motivated. "Our job is to prosecute abuses of power," he said.

"The law says the duty of a prosecutor is to make sure justice is done," Earle said, adding that the ban against corporate contributions "is intended to safeguard democracy and make the ballot box accessible to everybody, regardless of the amount of money involved."

The grand jury's foreman, retired sheriff's deputy William Gibson, told The Associated Press that Earle didn't pressure members to indict DeLay. "Ronnie Earle didn't indict him. The grand jury indicted him," Gibson said.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said of DeLay: "He will fight this, and we will give him our utmost support."

Blunt complained about "this terribly unfair thing that has happened to him."

And White House spokesman Scott McClellan described DeLay as "a good ally, a leader who we have worked closely with to get things done for the American people."

"I think the president's view is that we need to let the legal process work," he added.