New Delhi, Dec. 20: The BJP today tried to shift the spotlight from the serial scams involving its MPs by demanding a discussion on state funding of elections and the scrapping of the MPs’ local area development (MPLAD) scheme.

L.K. Advani reportedly wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee as well as Rajya Sabha chairman Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, mooting a proposal that links the two issues.

The BJP president is believed to have argued that the government could fund elections by using the money it would save by scrapping the MPLAD scheme. This is being widely seen as an attempt to create a diversion by raising larger issues.

The BJP has suspended Faggan Singh Kulaste, one of its three MPs named in the MPLAD cash-on-camera scam, the party’s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, Vijay Kumar Malhotra, told reporters. He added that another accused member, Chandra Pratap Singh, was already under suspension in the cash-for-questions scandal.

“Singh was suspended earlier. He was involved in the other scam as well,” Malhotra said sheepishly. The BJP has not acted against the third accused in yesterday’s expose, Ram Swarup Koli.

“He is not shown anywhere demanding money,” Malhotra said.

Koli pasted a letter on a notice board in Parliament today claiming he was innocent and threatened to take legal action against his inclusion in the sting operation, named Operation Chakravyuh.

Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee has cautioned MPs at a parliamentary party meeting to be “very careful”.