Cash for queries: Panel summons 10 MPs

The Pawan Kumar Bansal Committee formed by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to conduct a Parliamentary probe into the cash-for-question expose today decided to call all the 10 Lok Sabha MPs and the two cobrapost.com journalists who carried out the sting operation for interrogation on Saturday and Sunday.

Taking note of the fact that most of the MPs caught on hidden camera in ‘‘Duryodhana (sting) Operation’’ taking bribes for raising questions in Parliament have alleged in their respective replies to show-cause notices that ‘‘a conspiracy’’ was hatched to either defame them ‘‘individually’’ or the ‘‘institution of Parliament’’, sources said, the five-member committee decided to hold in-camera interrogation of the accused MPs over the weekend.

While the Committee has called the two sting journalists, Aniruddha Bahal and Sushasini Raj, and three MPs Narendra Kushwaha (BSP), Anna Saheb M.K. Patil (BJP), and Y.G. Mahajan (BJP) on Saturday evening, the other seven members—Manoj Kumar (RJD), Suresh Chandel (BJP), Raja Ram Pal (BSP), Lal Chandra Kol (BSP), Pradeep Gandhi (BJP), Chandra Pratap Singh (BJP) and Ramsevak Singh (Congress)—have been called on Sunday morning.

‘‘We decided to give each and every MP a chance to defend himself, before the Committee prepares its final report to be presented to the Lok Sabha (on December 21),’’ Bansal, chairman of the Committee, said, ruling out any chance of presenting a preliminary report.