Accusing the Congress president Sonia Gandhi of "sponsoring the Tehelka racket," former defence minister George Fernandes on Tuesday demanded that the Central Bureau of Investigation should bring to book the "bribe givers" too.

The CBI has filed cases against former Samata Party chief Jaya Jaitley and former Bharatiya Janata Party president Bangaru Laxman in connection with the Tehelka defence expose.

Also see: The Great Defence Scandal

A team of Tehelka's undercover reporters had caught politicians and defence officials on camera accepting and demanding bribes.

"If anybody has taken bribe and someone has given it, then the bribe giver is the bigger offender than the bribe taker. What the government has done is to be very selective," Fernandes said.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the fourth federal council meeting of the All India Defence Employees Federation, Fernandes attacked Gandhi, claiming that "the whole Tehelka is a racket sponsored by Sonia."

"A lot of money from various sources that came into this operation has not been made public still," he said.

He declared that Tehelka will be an election issue in the coming assembly elections.