Bangalore: Panel Set up to Probe 'Sleazegate' Ministers' Conduct
Bangalore, Feb 17 (IANS): Karnataka assembly speaker K.G. Bopaiah Thursday set up a seven-member panel to probe action of three Karnataka ministers involved in what has come to be known as the 'sleazegate' scandal.
He constituted the panel after the three, Laxman Savadi, C.C. Patil and J. Krishna Palemar, submitted their replies to his notice over watching porn in the assembly.
The panel consists of four assembly members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, two from the Congress and one from Janata Dal (Secular). It has been asked to submit its report by March 13.
The BJP members are B.S. Virupaksha, who will head the panel, Nehru Olekar, S.R. Vishwanath and B. Suresh Gowda. The Congress representatives are H.C. Mahadevappa and A. P. Bayyapura. JD(S) member is Dinakar Shetty, a statement from the speaker's office said.
The Congress and JD(S), which had stated they will not participate in the probe, said they will discuss the issue and take a decision, since the speaker has now named their members on the panel.
The two parties had dubbed the probe as "eye wash" intended to "shield the guilty" and wanted the trio to be expelled from the assembly immediately.
The three ministers quit the D.V. Sadananda Gowda cabinet Feb 8, a day after cameras caught Savadi and Patil watching a porn clip in the assembly on the cell phone which, they said, belonged to Palemar.
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