Cash-for-vote committee to hold maiden meeting tomorrow

New Delhi, July 29 (UNI) The first meeting of the seven-member Parliamentary Committee, appointed by Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to look into the 'cash-for-vote' scandal that rocked the Lok Sabha on July 22 ahead of the Trust vote, will be held here tomorrow.

The Committee, headed by Mr Kishore Chandra Deo, is likely to begin its work by viewing the original video footage entrusted to the Speaker by a private television channel, Lok Sabha sources told UNI.

The Committee was appointed after complaints from three BJP members - Ashok Argal, Mahavir Bahagora and Faggan Singh Kulaste -- that they were given an advance of Rs one crore each as part of a deal for Rs three crore each for voting with the government.

A few hours before the vote of confidence in the Lok Sabha on July 22, the three members brought a bag containing Rs one crore and stacked them on the table of the Lok Sabha Secretariat alleging that the currency notes of Rs 1000 denomination were giving to them as bribe.

Though the three MPs had named Samajwadi Party General Secretary Amar Singh and Mr Ahmed Patel, Political Secretary to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, it is not known if the seven-member committee could summon both of them as they were the members of the Rajya Sabha.

The Rs one crore, which was displayed in the Lok Sabha, is still under the custody of Lok Sabha Secretary General P D T Achary.

Besides Mr Kishore Chandra Deo, the committee also has as its members Mr V K Malhotra (BJP), Mr Mohammed Salim (CPM), Mr Ram Gopal Yadav (Samajwadi Party), Mr D P Yadav (RJD), Mr Rajesh Verma (BSP) and Mr C Kuppusway (DMK).

UNI SH SB CS2040