Tainted lawmakers likely to be expelled from the parliament

New Delhi: The murky world of Indian politics on Monday sunk to a new low when a news portal caught 11 lawmakers accepting bribes for planting questions in parliament.

The sting operation carried out by news portal cobrapost.com caught 11 lawmakers, including 10 belonging to the Lok Sabha and one from the Rajya Sabha, accepting bribes ranging between Rs15,000 (Dh1,197) and Rs110,000 (Dh8,779).

"I have taken the allegation of improper conduct by the members concerned seriously and they have been asked not to attend the House till further decision," a shocked Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee said after private news channel Aaj Tak showed video clippings of the sting operation codenamed "Operation Duryodhana."

The two Houses will take a final decision on the fate of the accused lawmakers subsequently, though the respective political parties have placed their tainted lawmakers under suspension.

Chatterjee announced the constitution of a five-member inquiry committee to investigate the scandal, while the Rajya Sabha Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat referred the matter to the Ethics Committee.

Political parties, cutting across their differences, have termed the scandal as disgraceful and demanded stern action against the corrupt lawmakers.

Journalist Aniruddha Bahal, who runs the news portal cobrapost.com, claimed the sting operation was unbiased in nature. However, with only two out of 11 corrupt politicians belonging to the treasury benches, questions are already being raised about the motive.

The revelations have come at a time when the ruling alliance is battling to come clean in the Iraqi oil-for-food scam.

Bahal headed the investigation team of the news portal tehelka.com when it nearly brought down the previous National Democratic Alliance government through its defence bribery scandal expose.

Six of the accused lawmakers in the present expose belong to the Bharatiya Janata Party, three to the Bahujan Samaj Party and one each to the Congress and the Rashtriya Janata Dal.

While the Rajya Sabha Ethics Committee will submit its initial report to Shekhawat today, the Lok Sabha inquiry committee has been given time to submit its report on December 21. All the tainted lawmakers have been asked to explain their conduct in writing by tomorrow.

The two Houses will decide fates of the accused lawmakers. Indications so far available suggest they may face expulsion as Members of Parliament.

Bahal along with fellow journalist Suhasini Raj followed the tehelka model of investigation by posing as representatives of a fictitious lobbying organisation, North Indian Small Manufactures' Association (Nisma) and used middlemen to get close to some low-key lawmakers.

They gave money ranging between Rs15,000 and Rs110,000 to submit approximately 60 questions in the parliament and at least 25 of them were even answered.

"Operation Duryodhana" was carried out for eight months between April and November and managed to collect 56 video and 70 audiotapes besides recording more than 900 phone calls.

Some of the lawmakers even offered to look after interest of the fictitious Nisma in parliament by quoting their annual fees of half a million rupees.