BJP again caught in porn scandal, now in Gujarat
March 21st, 2012 - 5:29 pm ICT by IANS
Ahmedabad, March 21 (IANS) Barely a month after the porn scandal hit its ministers in Karnataka, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday found itself in more sleaze after a journalist alleged that its legislators in Gujarat were watching obscene clips in the assembly.
Journalist Janak Dave reported to Gujarat Speaker Ganpat Parmar’s office that Shankar Chaudhury and Jetha Bharwad were watching obscene clips in the house as it discussed the demands for grants of the water resources department.
The issue also rocked the Gujarat assembly with the Congress demanding the dismissal of the two legislators.
The journalist claimed he noticed the two legislators watching “pictures of Swami Vivekananda, then cartoons and then pictures of women” - from his seat in the media gallery of the assembly.
Chaudhary, Dave said, showed his tablet to Bharwad.
After the journalist reported the incident, the speaker ordered the removal of the tablet from the assembly and called for a probe by the assembly’s privileges committee.
Now, the tablet is likely to be sent for forensic tests to the laboratory here.
“I went to the speaker’s chamber and complained about it to his personal assistant, who informed the speaker and the viewing was stopped,” Dave claimed.
Denying Dave’s charges, state BJP general secretary Vijay Rupani said the allegations were false and cooked up at Congress’ behest.
“I believe they were not watching such material on the tablet,” Rupani told reporters. “However, if required we will inquire about the incident.”
The Congress was quick to jump at the opportunity and called the incident “yet another example of BJP’s true face”.
With the party’s legislators raising the issue in the assembly and disrupting the proceedings, they were suspended from the house for a day.
The embarrassment comes after two Karnataka BJP ministers, Laxman S. Savadi and C.C. Patil, were caught on TV cameras viewing a porn clip on a cell phone in the assembly on Feb 7.
The two ministers said the cell phone belonged to their colleague J. Krishna Palemar. The three resigned Feb 8 following a public outcry.
- BJP again caught in porn scandal, now in Gujarat (Lead) - Mar 21, 2012
- Of sleazegate ministers and their conflicting answers (Karnataka Newsletter) - Feb 11, 2012
- Karnataka porngate probe reduced to BJP show - Feb 29, 2012
- More legislators involved in Karnataka porngate - Mar 08, 2012
- Congress stays away from sleazegate probe - Feb 15, 2012
- How TV cameras captured BJP ministers watching porn - Feb 08, 2012
- Karnataka porngate ministers now face police probe - Feb 13, 2012
- Clean chit for 2 porngate BJP ministers, censure for one - Mar 19, 2012
- Sleazegate: BJP, opposition spar over three ministers - Feb 09, 2012
- Three Karnataka porngate ministers quit, BJP red-faced (Afternoon Lead) - Feb 08, 2012
- BJP plans morality lessons for Karnataka lawmakers - Feb 14, 2012
- 'Sleazegate' ministers reply to speaker's notice - Feb 16, 2012
- Karnataka sleazegate ministers quit, BJP embarrassed (Second Lead) - Feb 08, 2012
- Sleazegate scalps three Karnataka ministers, leaves BJP red-faced (Roundup) - Feb 08, 2012
- BJP ministers watch porn in Karnataka assembly; face sack (Second Lead) - Feb 08, 2012
Tags: ahmedabad, behest, bharatiya janata party, chaudhury, forensic tests, general secretary, gujarat, janak, legislators, obscene clips, parmar, personal assistant, porn clip, privileges committee, shankar, sleaze, swami, true face, tv cameras, water resources department