Trinamool Congress on Sunday issued a first official statement on the cash-for-query allegations against party lawmaker Mahua Moitra, saying that appropriate action will be taken place after the investigation in a parliamentary forum.
It is alleged that Mahua Moitra received expensive gifts or money to ask questions about Gautam Adani in Parliament. The TMC leader’s former friend Jai Anant Dehadrai filed a separate complaint with the CBI against Moitra.
In response, Mahua Moitra filed a defamation suit against them before the Delhi High Court. Dubey’s complaint has been referred to Parliament’s Ethics Committee by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
The Lok Sabha’s ethics panel has called the BJP lawmaker Nishikant Dubey and Dehadrai to depose before the committee on October 26.
Ethics Committee Chairman Vinod Sonkar has assured that the Committee will reach a conclusion after examining everything related to the ‘Cash for Query’ scandal. He said BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who first made allegations about the TMC MP, has been asked to be present with the evidence.
Speaking to PTI, Rajya Sabha MP Derek O’Brien said while Moitra on advice from her party had clarified her position regarding the allegations leveled against her, the party leadership would wait for the report by the Parliamentary panel before taking an “appropriate decision”.
“The member concerned has been advised by the party leadership to clarify her position regarding the allegations leveled against her. She has already done that,” O’Brien said.
“However, since the matter has to do with an elected MP, her rights and privileges, let the matter be investigated by the right forum of Parliament, after which the party leadership will take an appropriate decision,” he added.
Previously, the TMC had seemingly distanced itself from the controversy over the allegation against the Lok Sabha MP.
Dubey stated that it was Darshan Hiranandani, son of Indian billionaire businessman Niranjan Hiranandani, who used to give bribes to Moitra in exchange for her raising the specific question in Parliament.
He wrote a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and urger for TMC MP’s “immediate suspension’ from the House alleging that “bribes were exchanged between her and businessman Darshan Hiranandani to ask questions in Parliament in exchange for cash and gifts”.
The businessman has acknowledged claims that he used the TMC MP’s login credentials to pose questions on the Adani group himself. Hiranandani then claimed that the TMC MP also demanded favors and gifts from him.
Source: Mint
