The Ethics Committee, which was hearing the “cash for query” matter involving Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, on Thursday adopted a report on the case after two hearings.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey has accused Moitra of taking a bribe from Hiranandani Group CEO Darshan Hiranandani to ask questions in Parliament and urged Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to constitute an inquiry committee to look into the charges against her.
Ethics Committee chairman Vinod Sonkar told CNN-News 18, “Report is adopted. Some members tried to save her but the majority was in favour of adopting the report. Now the report is being sent to Lok Sabha Speaker.”
Sonkar said six members voted in favour and four members were against the recommendation of Moitra’s expulsion from Lok Sabha.
Congress MP Preneet Kaur, wife of former Punjab CM and BJP leader Amarinder Singh, voted in favour of Moitra’s expulsion, according to BJP lawmaker Aprajita Sarangi, who is a member of the panel.
On Preneet Kaur, Sonkar said, “Those who are with us for truth, I welcome them. This is a good sign to save Parliament’s dignity. This is a welcome step from her.”
In February, Kaur was suspended by the Congress over allegations that she was helping the BJP in Punjab. Her husband Amarinder Singh and daughter Jai Inder Kaur joined the BJP last year.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey also said Preneet Kaur did not make any compromise for national security. “Punjab has always stood for India’s identity and national security. Today again Captain Amarinder Singh ji and Congress Party MP Preneet Kaur ji did not make any compromise for national security. India was, is and will always be grateful to the brave men of Punjab,” he wrote on X.
On November 2, Moitra appeared before the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee in the alleged ‘cash-for-query’ case and later stormed out of the meeting, saying questions were “scripted and filthy”.
Citing Advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai’s submission, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey had filed a complaint against Moitra with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla who referred the matter to the ethics committee. She has in the past indirectly referred to Dehadrai as a “jilted ex”.
What Was In Report?
The Lok Sabha ethics committee has recommended the expulsion of Mahua Moitra as MP in the ‘cash for query’ allegations it was probing against her. The parliamentary panel has said the politician’s conduct was “unethical” and “heinous” in nature, highly placed sources said.
According to the ethics panel’s suggestions, which were accessed by CNN-News18, there were “serious misdemeanours” on Moitra’s part.
Sources in the panel said the committee has also recommended an intense, legal and institutional inquiry by the central government in a time-bound manner. It has also said the “money trail of cash transaction between Mahua Mora and Darshan Hiranandani as part of quid pro quo” should be investigated.
Now House to Vote on Motion
Former secretary general of the Lok Sabha P D T Achary said this is perhaps the first time that the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee has recommended the expulsion of an MP.
In 2005, 11 MPs were expelled from Parliament in another “cash-for-query” case, but those expulsions were recommended by the Rajya Sabha Ethics Committee and a Lok Sabha inquiry committee.
Achary said the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee report will now be presented to Speaker Om Birla. The speaker may order that it be published, he added. During the next session of Parliament, the committee chairman will table the report in the House and then there will be a debate on it, followed by a vote on a government motion for the member’s expulsion, Achary said.
The House has to adopt the report to effect Moitra’s expulsion, he added.
What Moitra Said?
Facing a recommendation for expulsion in the “cash-for-query” controversy, senior TMC leader Mahua Moitra dismissed the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee’s decision as a “prefixed match by a kangaroo court,” emphasising that it signifies “death of parliamentary democracy” in India.
In a telephonic interview with PTI, Moitra said, “Even if they expel me in this Lok Sabha, I will be back in the next Lok Sabha with a bigger mandate.” “This is a pre-fixed match by a kangaroo court, which is of no surprise or consequence. But the larger message is that for India, it is death of parliamentary democracy,” Moitra said.
Moitra termed the procedures of the Ethics Committee akin to a kangaroo court.
She claimed, “From day one, it was a kangaroo court. There is no evidence, no trail, nothing. They called me for questioning, which was not complete because the chairperson did not allow others to question me.”
Moitra highlighted her demand for cross-examining the main complainant, stating, “There was no cross-examining of the main complainant, the alleged bribe giver. I was not allowed to cross-examine the main complainant. Not a single piece of evidence of cash or gifts given till today, the issue of login sharing is a non-issue because every MP shares it with 10 people and there are no NIC rules.” Clarifying her stance on login IDs and gifts, Moitra said she has neither done anything “unethical or illegal”.
On claims that her Parliamentary credentials were “compromised and were shared with Hiranandani’s team”, Moitra had said that she sought help from one of Hiranandani’s secretaries to type in her questions in the portal which “does not amount to a breach of Parliamentary privilege”.
“Hiranandani was my friend even before I was an MP and since I have a remote constituency, I used someone from my friend’s office to help me type my questions in the Lok Sabha portal,” she continued.
The TMC leader has acknowledged receiving four specific items from Hiranandani, including a scarf and high-end makeup. The four items disclosed by Moitra are a Hermès scarf, some Bobbi Brown makeup, a car and a driver when she visited Mumbai and an architectural drawing for renovation work in her official residence.
(With PTI inputs)
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