New Delhi: Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra Friday targetted BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and questioned the authenticity of his educational qualifications as per the affidavits submitted to the Election Commission (EC).
In response, Dubey said Delhi University (DU) does not respond to RTIs and shared an EC document which quashed the matter, when it was earlier flagged by Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and another petitioner, Vishnu Kant Jha. Dubey is a Lok Sabha MP from Godda in Jharkhand.
Sharing a series of tweets Friday, Moitra claimed that during the Lok Sabha polls of 2009 and 2014, Dubey’s affidavit mentioned ‘part time MBA from Delhi University’ as one of his qualifications. She further shared an RTI which stated the purported reply of DU which claimed that no such candidate was admitted or passed out during the academic year in 1993.
The TMC MP further tweeted that in the affidavit during the 2019 elections, Dubey made no mention of the MBA degree and only mentioned a PhD degree from Pratap University, Rajasthan. She then shared a document of his PhD application and said he omitted the DU’s MBA degree and, instead, mentioned that he had an MBA degree from Pratap University itself, which was from the 2013-2015 session.
Moitra’s remarks came after Dubey urged the Lok Sabha Privilege Committee to terminate Congress MP Rahul Gandhi’s Lok Sabha membership over the first part of his speech on the Adani-Hindenburg case during the Budget session of Parliament.
“I am very keen to see Hon’ble Member’s attendance record at Pratap University for full time MBA 2013-15 given he was full time MP then & match with LS attendance & constituency visits (sic),” she tweeted, while pointing towards a spelling mistake in Pratap University’s degree.
“People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. And people who have fake degrees & have lied on affidavits should definitely not throw the rule book (sic),” she said in another tweet.
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Not first time such charges
Responding to Moitra’s allegations, Dubey shared two documents — an Election Commission document which refused to proceed further on the matter of his degree and the Supreme Court dismissing the special leave petition against the Jharkhand High Court’s order on quashing the FIR against him on fake degrees
“This order of the Honorable Supreme Court, along with the Election Commission, who accepted that I have a degree and also a certificate to send you to Agra, is heart-wrenching and shocking for the woman MP from Bengal… (sic),” Dubey responded in a tweet orginally posted in Hindi.
This is not the first time Dubey has been in the news regarding his degrees. In July 2020, Hemant Soren, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) chief, had accused the Godda MP of obtaining a fake management degree from the Delhi University. Meanwhile, Jha had lodged a police complaint in Deoghar against the BJP MP, on the basis of which the Jharkhand Police registered an FIR and started an investigation against him.
On 7 February, Dubey had moved a privilege notice against Rahul Gandhi contending that the Congress leader’s remarks were available on his and Congress’ official YouTube channels despite being expunged by the Lok Sabha Speaker. The BJP also demanded termination of Rahul’s Lok Sabha membership.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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