New Delhi:The seven-member Lok Sabha panel, constituted to look into three BJP MPs' allegation that they were bribed to abstain in the July 22 trust vote, will summon them to record their statements and collect evidence.
The committee, headed by Congress MP V. Kishore Chandra Deo, held its first meeting om Wednesday.
It will also watch the footage of a sting operation conducted by CNN-IBN on the alleged bribing.
BJP MPs Ashok Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Bhagora, who on July 22 evening stunned the nation by brandishing wads of cash in the Lok Sabha shortly before the Manmohan Singh government was to face the trust vote, had accused Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi's political secretary Ahmad Patel of offering them bribes to abstain.
Deo was non-committal on the panel submitting its report before the August 11 deadline. "We do not want to waste time. We will try to do our best. But we are not going to hasten to give an incomplete report."
The first meeting took place amid demands from the opposition that the panel be made more representative.
The committee was formed by Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to investigate what has come to be known as the cash-for-vote scandal.
Besides Deo, other members of the committee are Vijay Kumar Malhotra (BJP), Mohammed Salim (CPI-M), Devendra Prasad Yadav (RJD), Ram Gopal Yadav (SP), Rajesh Verma (BSP) and C. Kuppuswamy (DMK).
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