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Ahmedabad: Barely a
month after a porn scandal hit its ministers in Karnataka, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Wednesday found itself mired in more
sleaze after a journalist alleged that BJP legislators in Gujarat
were watching obscene clips in the assembly.
Journalist Janak Dave reported to Gujarat Speaker Ganpat Vasava'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 dismissal of the two legislators.
The journalist claimed that 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.
Meanwhile, Chaudhary denied the charges against him and claimed it
was a conspiracy against him and his party.
"I had not viewed any obscene clips in the House and allegations
like this cannot be tolerated. I have never in my life seen such
clips. I am willing to deposit my i-pad before you (the speaker)
for investigation. If I have done any wrong then I would quit
politics," Chaudhary said.
"I used my i-pad for getting direct question from the people of my
constituency and for doing party work. This is a strong conspiracy
to defame me and my government," he said.
He also sought the speaker's protection under the house rules.
He also noted that it could be determined using technology if he
had watched any porn clips or not inside the house.
Bharwad, on his part, said he had not watched any porn clips in
the assembly and claimed it was a conspiracy to malign him and his
party.
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.
In Delhi, Congress spokesperson Rashid Alvi told reporters that
the BJP seems to have not learnt any lesson from the Karnataka
episode and that if strict action had been taken against the
erring ministers in Karnataka, the incident would not have been
repeated in Gujarat.
"We can only pray to god that such a thing is now not repeated in
any third BJP-ruled state," Alvi said.
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.
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