New Delhi: Opposition MPs in the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee Thursday called for Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra to be allowed to present her side before the parliamentary panel comes to any decision on the “cash-for-query” allegation against her, it is learnt.
Eleven members of the committee attended the meeting in which BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and Moitra’s former partner lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai deposed. The Opposition MPs present at the meeting were V. Vaithilingam and Uttam Kumar Reddy of the Congress, Giridhari Yadav of the JD(U), P.R. Natarajan of the CPI(M) and Danish Ali of the BSP.
According to sources, committee members also asked Dubey if the allegation was on the basis of personal rivalry.
“There were five opposition MPs in the meeting. They objected to the fact that Moitra was not summoned and allowed to present her side. They said the person against whom allegations are made should be given the right to defend themselves before the committee comes to a decision,” a source told ThePrint.
The committee has summoned Moitra to depose before it on 31 October in connection with Dubey’s allegation that she got “cash and gifts” from businessman Darshan Hiranandani for raising questions on the Adani group in Parliament.
The ethics committee has also asked the IT and home ministries to assist with “details about the conversations between” Moitra, Hiranandani and Dehadrai.
“The committee heard both the people who were summoned today — the lawyer and Nishikant Dubey. Their evidence was looked into. Looking into the seriousness of it, the committee decided to summon Mahua Moitra asking her to appear before it on 31 October. Secondly, the committee also decided to send letters to the IT Ministry and MHA for details about the conversation between Hiranandani, Mahua Moitra and the lawyer,” BJP MP Vinod Sonkar, who heads the panel, told mediapersons.
#WATCH | Delhi | Chairman of Parliament Ethics Committee, Vinod Sonkar says, "…Committee heard both the people who were summoned today – the lawyer and Nishikant Dubey. Their evidence were looked into. Looking into the seriousness of it, the Committee decided to summon Mahua… pic.twitter.com/w9oT18rvwJ
— ANI (@ANI) October 26, 2023
Dubey, who was called to depose before the committee, said all MPs were concerned because of Moitra’s case.
“They were normal questions. All I can say is that all the MPs are concerned. When they call me next I will come. The question is whether the propriety and dignity of Parliament will hold. It is a question of the dignity of Parliament. The Ethics Committee is more worried than me,” Dubey told reporters after the meeting.
Dehadrai, on the other hand, refused to say much. “I have told the truth before the committee. All members of the committee enquired from me cordially. I answered all that was asked from me.”
In an affidavit filed before the committee, Hiranandani has accused Moitra of spreading unverified information about Gautam Adani to “attack PM Modi”. Moitra, however, has dismissed the affidavit, saying Hiranandani had been coerced to write it.
(Edited by Gitanjali Das)
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