Monday, December 12 2005 14:50 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Congress today (Dec 12, 2005) suspended its Member of Parliament from Gwalior, Ram Sewak Singh for taking money purportedly for raising questions in the House.

"Eventhough there are six Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs caught on camera doing what they should not be doing- illegal gratification acceptance, and of other parties, but Congress did not waste even a single minute to suspend our MP", AICC General Secretary Ambika Soni told reporters.

Soni said the decision came following instructions from party chief Sonia Gandhi immediately after the disclosure.

"Its forthright with immediate effect because that's what Congress President directed us to do as a party," she said.

"This struggle to raise the moral standard of elected representatives is an ongoing process," the chairperson of the AICC's media department said adding "we have been writing to introduce the system of filing affidavits before we get a ticket from a party to contest an election."

Asked whether there would be any other action against the party MP, Soni said it was 'a follow up thing'.

"Gandhi's direction came immediately to suspend him from the party. And after having done that naturally, the MP will also come and put his point of view at the appropriate level of the party hierarchy," she said. Soni said since they had also violated rules of the Parliament, "let us look for the follow up at the earliest".