Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Oct 26: The Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha after hearing the complainants BJP Member Nishikant Dubey and advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai on Thursday issued summons to the Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra to appear before it on October 31 in the “cash for query” controversy.
The committee after nearly three hour long proceedings on Thursday during which it heard both BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai and discussed every aspect of the allegations they have made against Ms Moitra, agreed the allegations against the TMC MP were “very serious.”
The ethics committee chairman Vinod Sonkar told reporters that the committee has sought assistance from Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeITY) seeking details on key aspects of the case for a deeper investigation into the allegations against Ms Moitra.
Earlier in the day, Mr Dubey and Mr Dehadrai appeared before the Committee to record their statements and present evidence in connection with the allegations against her. During the meeting, questions were raised on Mr Dubey’s motivation behind accusing Ms Moitra of getting financial benefits for raising questions in Parliament. Ms Moitra has earlier questioned the authenticity of Mr Dubey’s MBA degree.
“We heard the lawyer and Nishikant Dubey ji. Taking note of the seriousness of the allegations, we have decided to summon Mahua Moitra on Tuesday. She should come and present her side of the matter,” Mr Sonkar told reporters after the ethics committee proceeding ended.
Mr Dehadrai, on whose complaint to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) the entire case rests, was cross-examined by the ethics committee, while Mr Dubey was allowed to explain his allegations, sources said. Referring to the CBI complaint, Mr Dubey had written to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and levelled cash-for-query allegations against Ms Moitra. The Trinamool MP has called the Supreme Court lawyer her “jilted ex.”
Some opposition members raised questions over Mr Dubey’s intent because Ms Moitra had highlighted the issue of his educational qualifications. Mr Dubey, however, said he has already got a clean chit on this matter, sources said. The letter claimed to share “irrefutable evidence” of businessman Darshan Hiranandani giving bribes to Ms Moitra to ask questions in parliament. The questions were allegedly designed to target the Adani Group.
The ethics committee will give a report to the Lok Sabha Speaker “as early as possible,” sources said, referring to the Pawan Bansal committee that gave its report in just two weeks in December 2005 in the infamous cash-for-questions scam when the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) was in power in the centre.
Mr Dehadrai told reporters the proceedings were “cordial and pleasant” and he answered all the questions the ethics committee asked. “Everything was very cordial and they were very pleasant. Some questions were put to me and I have answered those questions,” he said while leaving.
Mr Dubey said he will be available whenever the ethics committee calls him. “They were normal questions… All I can say is 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,” Mr Dubey told reporters.
“Documents don’t lie,” Mr Dubey said when pointed out that Ms Moitra had refuted all the allegations levelled against her. In the letter to Mr Birla dated October 15, Mr Dubey said the advocate, close to Ms Moitra before they fell out, has shared “irrefutable evidence of bribes exchanged” between her and businessman Darshan Hiranandani to target the Adani Group and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Mr Dubey had also pointed out that 50 of 61 questions she asked in the Lok Sabha till recently were focused on the Adani Group.
The TMC member had dismissed the charges and had accused the Adani group to be behind them to target her as she has been relentless in raising questions on the conglomerate’s practices and transactions.
In a signed affidavit, Mr Hiranandani, the CEO of real estate-to-energy eponymous group, who allegedly paid her to raise questions in Parliament, said the TMC leader targeted Gautam Adani to “malign and embarrass” PM Modi whose impeccable reputation gave the Opposition no opportunity to attack him.
In an affidavit, Mr Hiranandani alleged the Trinamool MP shared her MP email so that he could send her information and she could raise the questions in parliament. He alleged she later gave him her parliament login and password for him to post the questions directly. The ethics committee reaching out to the Information Technology Ministry and the Home Ministry is linked to the alleged misuse of the parliament login ID and password by Ms Moitra.
Ms Moitra has denied the allegations and said she is prepared for any inquiry. She has also said she was ready to answer questions from the Lok Sabha ethics committee. Neither The Trinamool nor its INDIA bloc allies have come out in support of Ms Moitra so far. The Trinamool has said it will not comment on the case. The party’s leader in the Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien, has said they will take an appropriate decision on the allegations against Ms Moitra after the parliamentary panel completes its investigation.
The TMC chief and the West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee while maintaining her studied silence on Ms Moitra case, on Thursday lashed out at the BJP after Enforcement Directorate carried out raids on state minister Jyotipriya Mallick warning the central agency (and the Central Bureau of Investigation) of police action if any harm was caused to the senior Trinamool leader.
A furious Banerjee declared, “he Mr Mallick) has blood sugar. If he dies, we will file a FIR (first information report) against CBI and ED. They torture people and ask them to take names of (other) people. This is atyachar (atrocious).”
“‘Yeh kya atyachar… kya anachar chal raha hai?’ (What atrocities, lawlessness is going on here?) … BJP is playing a dirty game in the guise of ED raids on opposition leaders ahead of the Lok Sabha election (in 2024)… has been a single such raid at any BJP leader’s residence?” she asked.
“It (the BJP) says it wants ‘sabka sath, sabka vikas (development for all)’ but actually it wants ‘sabka sath, sabka satyanash (destruction for all)’,” Ms Banerjee declared.
