Cash-for-vote: Par panel divided as probe concludes

Parliamentary committee that went into the cash-for-vote scam concluded its task on Thursday amid signals that the panel was a divided lot.

The Parliamentary committee that went into the cash-for-vote scam concluded its task on Thursday amid signals that the panel was a divided lot with some members including that of the BJP planning to give dissenting notes.

BJP deputy leader in the Lok Sabha V K Malhotra, who tried unsuccessfully to quit the panel at the last moment, said he would be giving a dissent note.

Senior Congress MP V Kishore Chandra Deo, who heads the panel told reporters after its last sitting that some members wanted to give dissent notes and they have been given time upto November 6 to do so.

Opposition parties including BJP, BSP and the CPIM and other Left parties have been critical of the way the government had secured the trust vote.

He, however, declined to specify who were the members wanting to give dissenting note and was neither ready to share the conclusions of the report that was adopted by the Committee at its meeting on Thursday.

His refrain was that 8220;money trail8221; was not part of his job and his only task was whether the money was paid, as alleged by the three BJP members during the July 22 trust vote in the Manmohan Singh ministry.

The Three BJP MPs Ashok Argal, Fagan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Bhagora had displayed bundles of currency notes and named Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh and Congress leader Ahmed Patel behind the attempt to lure them to the ruling side. Singh and Patel had, however, denied the charge.

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In order to maintain transparency on the 8220;sensitive8221; issue, Deo said evidence given by some witnesses, remarks by members and the verbatim proceedings would form part of the final report.

The Committee was set up by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee after the three BJP MPs displayed wads of currency notes during the debate on the confidence motion in the Lok Sabha. It was originally given time upto August 11 to submit its report but was given four extensions upto November 15.

Deo said he would be submitting the report to the Speaker and would be placing the same on the table of Lok Sabha on December 10 when the House meets.

While two BJP MPs Ashok Argal and Fagan Singh Kulaste have already appeared before the panel, another third BJP MP Mahavir Bhagora could not appear as he was suffering from cardiac problem. Bhagora has been given four reminders to appear before the panel.

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Samajwadi Party MP Reoti Raman Singh, BJP activist Sudheendra Kulkarni, Amar Singh8217;s reported aide Sanjeev Saxena and Suhail Hindustani, who was seen in the CD released by CNN-IBN TV news channel, which conducted the sting operation, and representatives of the channel have already deposed before the Committee.