In what could be a huge setback to Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, the parliament ethics committee has reportedly recommended termination of her Lok Sbaha membership and a detailed probe into the cash-for-query allegations.
The panel, headed by BJP MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar, will meet on Thursday to adopt its draft report. In it 500-page report, the committee has termed Moitra’s actions as “highly objectionable and unethical” and recommended a “legal, intensive, institutional and time-bound” investigation by the government into the matter.
The report will be submitted to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla during the winter session of parliament. Moitra has been in the middle of a political storm ever since BJP MP Nishikant Dubey accused her of taking bribes from businessman Darshan Hiranadani for asking questions in parliament targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and industrialist Gautam Adani.
Dubey also alleged that the TMC MP had compromised the national interest by sharing the login details of her Lok Sabha account with Hiranandani, an “outsider”. Moitra, a staunch critic of Modi and the BJP, admitted that she had shared her login details with Hiranandani, but dismissed allegations of a quid pro quo, saying the businessman has long been a close friend of her.
The Trinamool MP deposed herself before the panel on November 2, but stormed out of the meeting in the midway, along with some opposition members, accusing its chairman of asking personal and unethical questions. “I have been subjected to the proverbial ‘vastraharan’ by him in the presence of all members of the Committee,” she later said in a letter to the Speaker.
Lokpal has ordered CBI probe
Meanwhile, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey said on Wednesday that the Lokpal had ordered a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the corruption allegations against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra.
“On my complaint, Lokpal today ordered a CBI inquiry against accused Mahua Moitra for indulging in corruption at the cost of national security,” Dubey wrote on X. There was, however, no official confirmation from the anti-corruption body.
The BJP MP had written to the Lokpal on October 21, accusing Moitra of taking bribe from businessman Darshan Hiranandani for asking questions in parliament targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and industrialist Gautam Adani.
Responding to Dubey’s fresh claims of a CBI probe against her, Moitra said on Wednesday that the central agency should first file an FIR to probe alleged coal scam by the Adani Group.
“For the media calling me- my answer: 1. CBI needs to first file FIR on Rs 13,000 crore Adani coal scam. 2. National security issue is how dodgy FPI owned (inc Chinese & UAE ) Adani firms buying Indian ports & airports with the Home Minister office’s clearance. Then CBI welcome to come, count my shoes,” she wrote on X.
