The Hindu : National : Tapes go on air

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Tuesday, Aug 12, 2008
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Tapes go on air

New Delhi: The controversial tapes on the ‘cash for votes’ scam that shocked Parliament during the trust vote were telecast on Monday night by TV channel CNN-IBN. An SP leader was shown in conversation with the three BJP MPs who later claimed they were sought to be bribed for support to the government.

These tapes, copies of which have been submitted by the channel to the parliamentary committee probing the bribery allegations, show the MPs with a person, who purportedly gives them Rs. one crore which is placed on a table.

The MPs — Ashok Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahaveer Bhagora — earlier had alleged that they were given the money to abstain during the government’s confidence motion on July 22. They had displayed bundles of currency notes in the House.

They accused Samajwadi Party leaders as being behind the bribery attempt.

Asked by the channel whether the MPs were trying to cross over and the BJP leadership had forced them into the operation, BJP leader Arun Jaitley said they had complained that while they had been rebuffing the attempts, the media were carrying their names as “suspects”.

“So, we told them to take a bold step and become whistle blowers,” he said.

The channel said when it tried to talk to an SP leader, he refused to appear on camera. He told the channel that the BJP MPs were calling him for quite some time and so he went and talked to them in a house. — PTI

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