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New Delhi: The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has accused a private news channel of compromising on its independence over its refusal to telecast tapes of the recent "cash-for-vote controversy".
CNN-IBN, headed by noted television journalist Rajdeep Sardesai had carried out the sting at BJP lawmaker Ashok Argal's New Delhi residence hours before the July 22 trust vote when he along with two other party lawmakers were allegedly paid money to refrain from voting.
Within minutes of pandemonium breaking out in Lok Sabha after the three BJP lawmakers stunned millions by taking out wads of currency notes saying attempts were made to bribe them, Sardesai said that he had submitted a tape of the sting operation to the Speaker claiming the person giving the alleged bribe could be identified from the tape.
The channel has, however, now come out with the explanation that they it is unable to telecast the contents due to many loose ends in the story and poor audio and video qualities.
"The media house should revise its decision without any further delay and air the tapes soon," senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu said yesterday while announcing the party's decision to boycott the channel.
The party has decided not to give interviews to the channel or send any of its leaders to participate in its talk shows, although there is no bar on the channel, which also owns Hindi news channel IBN 7, on covering regular press conferences.
The BJP said that the channel's excuse of not telecasting the tapes have been taken under pressure from the government and certain corporate houses, which allegedly funded the move to buy loyalties of opposition lawmakers who either remained abstained or cross voted enabling the Congress party-led coalition government to survive the crucial trust vote.
Exhorting the channel to show the truth to the nation, the BJP said that the party is interested in preserving and protecting freedom of the press and is ready to assist the media to withstand interference from the government and the corporate sector. Opposition lawmakers were allegedly paid up to Rs300 million (Dh27 million) to help the ruling coalition survive the floor test necessitated by the withdrawal of support by the Left Front over the Indo-US nuclear deal.
The three BJP lawmakers alleged that they were approached on behalf of Samajwadi Party general secretary Amar Singh and senior Congress party leader Ahmad Patel and were offered Rs30 million each. They informed the CNN-IBN which wired the entire house and taped the incident when part of the alleged bribe was paid as advance. Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee has since instituted a seven-member committee's inquiry into the allegations.
Drama in camera: Quality alibi seen suspect
- BJP MPs Ashok Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Bhagora took out wads of currency notes and placed it on the table of the Lok Sabha just ahead of the trust vote, alleging it was the advance they were paid to refrain from voting on July 22.
- TV channel CNN-IBN claimed it had filmed the sting operation, had handed over tapes to the Lok Sabha Speaker and would air the same at an appropriate time.
- The channel now claims it cannot do so due to poor audio and video quality and many loose ends in the story.
- Lok Sabha Speaker constituted a seven-member panel to probe the allegations and the probe began on July 30. The panel is to submit its report in a fortnight.
- The BJP has decided to boycott the television channel saying it has succumbed to pressure from government and corporate houses which funded the bribery of 18 opposition lawmakers who have since been suspended by their respective parties.
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