TMC MP Mahua Moitra (Left), Lok Sabha (Right)
Facing ‘cash for query’ allegations, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra will appear before the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee that is probing the case against her on November 2.
Ahead of her appearance before the Committee, Mahua, in a letter to the panel said that she will appear before it for the hearing on November 2– the summoned date. She has asked for permission to cross-examine the alleged ‘bribe giver’ Darshan Hiranandani and the complainant, Advocate Jai Dehadrai.
Posting the two-page letter on her X handle, Moitra said, “Since Ethics Committee deemed it fit to release my summons to the media I think it is important I too release my letter to the Committee before my “hearing” tomorrow.
In her letter, Moitra alleged that Advocate Dehadrai had provided no documentary evidence to back his allegations in either his written complaint or any evidence in his oral hearing.
“In keeping with the principles of natural justice I wish to exercise my right to cross-examine Dehadrai,” she wrote in her letter to the Committee.
“In light of the seriousness of the allegations, it is imperative that the alleged ‘bribe-giver’ Darshan Hiranandani, who has given a ‘Suo-Motu’ affidavit to the Committee with scant details and no documentary evidence whatsoever, be called to depose before the Committee and provide the said evidence in the form of a documented itemised inventory with amounts, date etc” she further wrote.
“I wish to place on record that in keeping with the principles of natural Justice I wish to exercise my right to cross-examine Hiranandani,” she added.
Moitra had asked the Committee to answer in writing and place on record their decision to either allow or disallow such cross-examination.
Moreover, the TMC MP also raised concerns over the ‘double standards’ of the Ethics Committee and highlighted that the panel is adopting a different approach in the case of BJP MP Ramesh Biduri, who she says has a very serious complaint of hate speech.
“In direct contrast, a very different approach has been adopted in the case of Shri Ramesh Biduri, MP, BJP who has a very serious complaint of hate speech (which was openly made on the floor of the House) pending against him on the Privileges and Ethics branch made by a Hon’ble member of this same Committee, Shri Danish Ali, MP.
Biduri was summoned on October 10, 2023, to provide oral evidence and informed the Committee that he was away campaigning in Rajasthan and would not be attending. No further date for his hearing has been given so far. I wish to place on record that these double standards reek of political motives and do little to enhance the credibility of the Privileges & Ethics Branch,” Moitra said in the letter.
The TMC MP also questioned the jurisdiction of the committee in investigating alleged criminality.
“There is also the question of whether the Ethics committee is the appropriate forum to examine alleged criminality. I wish to respectfully remind you that Parliamentary Committees do not have criminal jurisdiction and have no mandate to investigate alleged criminality….This check was specifically created by our nation’s founders to prevent even the slightest misuse of Committees by the government enjoying a brute majority in Parliament” the TMC MP wrote.
The Committee, hearing the matter, had asked Moitra to appear on October 31. Later, she requested a hearing date after November 5 citing pre-scheduled programmes but was denied an extension beyond November 2.
Mahua Moitra is facing ‘cash for query’ allegations by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey, who alleged that Moitra had allegedly taken bribes from Dubai-based businessman Darshan Hiranandani to raise questions in Parliament to target the Adani Group. He said that the allegations on TMC MP Mahua Moitra are much more ‘serious’ than the 2005 ‘cash for query scam case’, in which 11 Members of Parliament were suspended.
Nishikant Dubey wrote a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, titled “Re-emergence of nasty ‘Cash for Query’ in Parliament”, seeking a probe into the matter. He also claimed that Advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai had provided him with proof of alleged bribes. The TMC Lok Sabha MP on November 1, made public her letter to the Ethics Committee Chairman and BJP MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar.
“MPs have been suspended in the Parliament for asking questions for Rs 10,000. This (Moitra’s case) is a more serious matter than that,” Dubey said while speaking to reporters in Gwalior.
When asked about Lok Sabha Ethics Committee’s summon to Mahua Moitra on November 2, he said that as per rules, it would be unappropriate to speak on the matter which is already being probed by the panel.
He, however, said that he would reply on the matter after the Committee’s verdict.
In 2005, 11 then MPs– Chhatarpal Singh Lodha (BJP), Anna Saheb M K Patil (BJP), Manoj Kumar (RJD), Chandra Pratap Singh (BJP), Ram Sewak Singh (Congress), Narender Kumar Kushwaha (BSP), Pradeep Gandhi (BJP), Suresh Chandel (BJP), Lal Chandra Kol (BSP), YG Mahajan (BJP), Raja Rampal (BSP)– were accused of involved in a ‘cash-for-query’ scam.
According to reports, a sting operation was conducted against these MPs by the two journalists and was telecasted on a private news channel on 12 December, 2005 and came to be known as cash-for-question scam.
The suspended lawmakers challenged the expulsion, but it was upheld by the Supreme Court in a 2007 judgment.
(with inputs from ANI)
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