WARSAW (AFP) -- Polish politics had a whiff of scandal added to its ongoing government crisis Wednesday as a conservative lawmaker from the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party was caught on film trying to buy the loyalty of a deputy from the populist Samoobrona party.

Adam Lipinski of PiS, who is in charge of the office of Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, was filmed by a hidden camera discussing the prospects of a key cabinet post for Samoobrona lawmaker Renata Beger if she would quit her party and defect to PiS.

Beger was privy to the secret film, as she was wearing the hidden camera herself. The results were aired Tuesday evening on TVN24 news television station.

"You know, it's not a problem because we have lots of vacant posts," Lipinski said at one point to Beger during their discussion.

PiS has been trying to cobble together a new governing coalition since last week, when Kaczynski sacked Samoobrona leader Andrzej Lepper from the posts of deputy prime minister and agriculture minister, after the two rowed about the budget.

If PiS fails to find new allies to form a parliamentary majority, Kaczynski has said he will call early elections.

Polls have shown his conservative party would not fare as well as last year, when it won the most seats of any party in general elections but fell short of a majority.

PiS, which has 154 seats in the 460-seat lower house, can count on continued backing from the 29 lawmakers in the third coalition party, the far-right League of Polish Families, and is trying to win over the Peasants' Party (PSL), which has 25 seats.