-------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Wishing all Goanetters | | a Prosperous | | and | | Happy New Year - 2006 | | Goanet - http://www.goanet.org | -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tainted MPs reply to probe panel Statesman News Service
NEW DELHI, Jan 4. - The Lok Sabha MPs named in last month's television expose on corruption in the MP Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) have filed their replies to the inquiry committee set up by the Speaker, Mr Somnath Chatterjee. On 19 December, shortly after the "cash-for-query" scam was exposed by a sting operation carried out by a private TV channel, another such exercise called "Operation Chakravyuh" by a different private TV channel showed a former Congress Goa chief minister and Lok Sabha member Mr Churchill Alemao and former Union minister and BJP MP Mr Fagan Singh Kulaste as being involved in corruption in allotting work for the MPLAD scheme. It, however, said a Samajwadi Party MP, Mr Toofani Saroj, refused to discuss or accept any commission. Taking cognizance of the second scam, the Lok Sabha Speaker had announced in the House on 20 December that the inquiry would be conducted into the "serious allegations of improper conduct". According to sources, all Lok Sabha MPs named in the expose on corruption in MPLADS have filed their replies to the seven-member inquiry committee headed by senior Congress MP Mr PK Bansal, who also inquired into the cash-for-query scam. The other members of the committee are Mr VK Malhotra (BJP), Md Saleem (CPI-M), Mr Ram Gopal Yadav (SP), Mr C Kuppuswamy (DMK), Mr Prasanna Acharya (BJD) and Mr DP Yadav (RJD). The committee has been asked to give its report by 31 January. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- | Goa - 2005 Santosh Trophy Champions | | | | Support Soccer Activities at the grassroots in our villages | | Vacationing in Goa this year-end - Carry and distribute Soccer Balls | --------------------------------------------------------------------------