Terming the incident of party members of Parliament demanding bribe for posing questions in Parliament as "sad and shameful", Bharatiya Janata Party president Lal Kishenchand Advani Tuesday warned that any malpractice by parliamentarians would be dealt with severely.
Addressing the BJP Parliamentary Party members, Advani said the incidents were not only shameful to their respective parties, but to the entire Parliament.
Six BJP MPs were among the 11 caught on camera, in a sting operation by Cobrapost-Aaj Tak, accepting money from undercover reporters for raising questions on various issues in Parliament.
Advani said after Tuesday's exposures, the party had come to know of many other questionable deeds like MPs sub-letting their garages and rooms, and misusing their airtickets and gas coupons.
Strict action would be taken against them even if the misdeeds were committed out of ignorance, and the party looked for high moral standards from its members and expected them to steer clear of allurements, BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra said, quoting Advani.
The BJP spokesman said some vested interests were waiting in the wings to grab tribal lands in the name of amendments to the Environment and Forests Bill and the party had to be cautious in its approach to foil the plans of the mafia.
Among those who attended the meeting were former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and senior party leader Jaswant Singh.
