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Rediff.com  » News » Cash for query: Expel MPs, says panel

Cash for query: Expel MPs, says panel

Last updated on: December 23, 2005 00:04 IST
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The Pawan Kumar Bansal Committee, which was constituted to probe the 'Cash-for-Query' scam involving 11 parliamentarians, has recommended that the parliamentarians caught accepting money in camera for asking questions in Parliament be expelled.

The Bansal committee submitted its report to Speaker Somnath Chatterjee in New Delhi on Wednesday.

The report, which was submitted to the Speaker in his chamber, is likely to be tabled in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, according to a spokesman of the Speaker.

A total of 11 MPs (10 from the Lok Sabha and one from the Rajya Sabha) were allegedly caught on the camera by a private television channel while demanding money for asking questions in Parliament.

The MPs allegedly involved were M K Annasaheb Patil, Y G Mahajan, Pradeep Gandhi, Chandra Pratap Singh, Suresh Chandel (all from the Bharatiya Janata Party) Raja Ram Pal, Narendra Kushwaha, Lal Chandra (all from the Bahujan Samaj Party), Manoj Kumar (Rashtriya Janata Dal) and Ramsevak Singh (Congress).

As soon as the scam came to light, the Speaker had appointed a five-member committee headed by P K Bansal (Congress), to go into the matter and simultaneously prohibited all the ten accused MPs from participating in the parliamentary proceedings until completion of the inquiry.

Besides Bansal, the committee comprised Prof Vijay Kumar Malhotra (BJP), Mohd Salim (Communist Party of India-Marxist), Prof Ram Gopal Yadav (Samajwadi Party) and C Kuppusami (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam).

The Committee, which began its probe nine days ago on Monday, gave all the 10 MPs and the news channel, which telecast 'Operation Duryodhan' showing the sting operation, an opportunity to depose before the Committee.

Complete Coverage: Cash for questions

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