Tuesday, December 20 2005 18:31 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The latest MP Local Area Development (LAD) project allocation expose had its fallout in Parliament today with the Lok Sabha Speaker ordering an inquiry against five members and asking them not to attend the session till a decision was taken and Rajya Sabha Chairman referring to the Ethics Committee the conduct of two.

Taking cognisance of the second scam, Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee announced in the House that an inquiry would be conducted into the serious allegations of improper conduct.

The Speaker asked the five MPs figuring in the fresh expose not to attend the House until the matter was looked into and a decision taken.

The five Lok Sabha MPs are Alemao Churchill (Cong), Faggan Singh Kulaste, Ramswaroop Koli and Chandra Pratap Singh (all BJP) and Parasnath Yadav (SP).

Rajya Sabha Chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat referred to the Ethics Committee the cases of Sakshi Maharaj of Rashtriya Kranti Dal and BSP member Isham Singh.

In his observations, Shekhawat said two members of the Upper House, who figured in the expose and what was shown by the private TV channel had lowered prestige of the House.

Members in both Houses were divided on the issue of scrapping the MPLAD scheme under which each MP is allocated Rs 2 crore for development work of his constituency.

While some favoured its outright scrapping, others said it should be continued but with a better monitoring mechanism.

A probe is already underway against ten MPs who were caught on camera taking money purportedly for raising questions in Parliament.