New Delhi, December 20
When the first sting operation showing MPs taking money for asking questions in Parliament was aired by Aaj Tak news channel, it evoked outrage and condemnation from the entire political class.

The political parties concerned rushed to seize the high moral ground as they immediately suspended the errant members and made it clear that such conduct will not be tolerated.

But the second bribe scandal involving seven more MPs, aired by Star News last night, elicited a very different response from Parliamentarians across the political spectrum.

This change in mood was also reflected in the action initiated by political parties against the members shown in this sting operation with the Congress ruling out immediate action against former Goa Chief Minister and party MP Churchill Alemao, who figured in yesterday’s expose, on the plea that there was qualitative difference between the two cases as Mr. Alemao was not shown taking money while the charge against Mr. Ram Sevak Singh was substantiated by video footage. Meanwhile, Mr. Alemao has challenged the veractiy of the report and filed an FIR against the channel which conducted the sting operation.

This time, the indignation of MPs was aimed not at their own colleagues but at the media. There was a general outcry against sting operations as this exercise was dubbed as an effort by competing television news channels to push up their ratings.

Saying as much in private conversations, parliamentarians described sting operations as “traps” as unsuspecting MPs were virtually lured and pushed into accepting bribes.

In fact, the second expose, which showed MPs taking money for sanctioning projects under the MPLAD scheme, has triggered a widespread debate on sting operations as fuming parliamentarians maintained that an outright effort was being made to denigrate Parliament as an institution.

Answering questions on the issue, Congress spokesperson Anand Sharma said action would be taken against Churchill Alemao only if it was felt necessary after the “unedited tapes” had been examined.

Mr Alemao has written to party President Sonia Gandhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee rejecting the allegations of corruption and said that the channel had “tampered” with the video footage.

In the FIR lodged with the Tilak Marg police station, Mr. Alemao described the operation as a “criminal conspiracy”, which, he said, was backed by unknown forces who had been sponsored for commercial gains for Star News.