Ahmedabad, March 21
Barely a month after a porn scandal hit its ministers in Karnataka, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today found itself in more sleaze after a journalist alleged that the party’s legislators in Gujarat were watching obscene clips in the Assembly.

Journalist Janak Dave reported to Gujarat Speaker Ganpat Parmar's office that Shankar Chaudhury and Jetha Bharwad were watching obscene clips in the House as it discussed the demands for grants of the Water Resources Department.

The issue also rocked the Gujarat Assembly with the Congress demanding the dismissal of the two legislators.

The journalist claimed he noticed the two legislators watching "pictures of Swami Vivekananda, then cartoons and then pictures of women" - from his seat in the media gallery of the Assembly. Chaudhary, Dave said, showed his tablet to Bharwad.

After the journalist reported the incident, the Speaker ordered the removal of the tablet from the Assembly and called for a probe by the Assembly's privileges committee.

Now, the tablet is likely to be sent for forensic tests to the laboratory here.

"I went to the Speaker's chamber and complained about it to his personal assistant, who informed the Speaker and the viewing was stopped," Dave claimed.

Denying Dave's charges, state BJP general secretary Vijay Rupani said the allegations were false and cooked up at the Congress' behest.

"I believe they were not watching such material on the tablet," Rupani told reporters. "However, if required, we will inquire about the incident."

The Congress was quick to jump at the opportunity and called the incident "yet another example of BJP’s true face".

With the party's legislators raising the issue in the Assembly and disrupting the proceedings, they were suspended from the House for a day.

The embarrassment comes after two Karnataka BJP ministers, Laxman S Savadi and CC Patil, were caught on TV cameras viewing a porn clip on a cell phone in the Assembly on February 7.

The two ministers said the cell phone belonged to their colleague J Krishna Palemar. The three resigned on February 8 following a public outcry. — IANS