Ahmedabad, 21 March 2012: The Gujarat assembly was rocked by its version of the Karnataka-like ’porngate’ on Wednesday when the Congress party accused two BJP MLAs of watching objectionable material on a tablet yesterday in the house.
The two MLAs, Shankar Choudhary of Radhanpur and Jetha Bharwad of Sehera in Panchmahal, have denied the allegations.
A journalist has submitted a video clip which shows the two legislators watching something on a tablet, but it was not clear exactly what. "The claim is baseless and without any truth," Choudhary later told TOI. "I often draft letters and other official documents in the House just to get some office work done. That is all I was doing when the clip was made."
The tablet has been handed over to the secretary of the assembly and the speaker has ordered an inquiry to find out exactly what the gadget contained. Forensic experts may be roped in just in case the objectionable material may have been deleted.
Choudhary, one of the younger leaders of the BJP in the legislative, also made a statement in the house on the issue on Wednesday afternoon but by then all Congress MLAs had been suspended for the day for protesting loudly and not allowing the house to function.
A Karnataka legislature committee, set up to probe the porngate episode earlier, had given a clean chit to two former ministers who were allegedly caught watching objectionable material in the state assembly.
The committee headed by Srishailappa Bidarur absolved CC Patil and Krishna Palemar in its report submitted to the assembly speaker KG Bopaiah in a sealed cover.