Twenty-four hours after three BJP MPs stunned the nation by waving bundles of cash in the Lok Sabha to allege they were being bribed by the Samajwadi Party to abstain from the trust vote, the Lok Sabha Secretariat was still to order an inquiry into the incident.

The CNN-IBN news channel, which attempted a sting operation over two days to try and capture footage of money being given to BJP MPs Ashok Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Bhagora, has handed over the raw footage to the Speaker’s office.

The channel did not telecast the tapes on Tuesday though minutes after his MPs emptied a bag full of money in the House, Leader of Opposition L K Advani said a “prominent” news channel would soon telecast the tapes.

Today, Advani demanded an inquiry into the incident. “On the basis of what the three MPs have said to the Speaker, he can order investigation, make inquiries and come to a conclusion,” he said.

“The BJP demands that the Speaker immediately convene a meeting of leaders of all parties, show the tape to them and institute a time-bound inquiry. The outcome of this inquiry must be made known before Parliament convenes for the monsoon session in August,” Advani said.

Without naming the CNN-IBN channel, he said: “The right thing for the channel would have been to show it and let people draw their own conclusion.”

BJP leaders, who had coordinated the sting operation, today admitted that as per the initial plan the CNN-IBN was to commence promos for the story minutes after the “bribe” reached Parliament. The tapes were to be telecast later.

... contd.