Cash-for-query row | 'How did affidavit reach media?': Mahua Moitra slams Ethics Committee chief
She said she was ready to answer questions from the CBI and the Ethics Committee if called over charges that she took bribes from a businessman
TMC MP Mahua Moitra on Friday lashed out at Lok Sabha Ethics Committee chief Vinod Sonkar for ‘openly’ speaking to media before the complaint related to the ‘cash-for-query’ case is heard, and asked how did the media gain access to businessman Darshan Hiranandani’s affidavit.
Taking to Twitter, the TMC MP pointed out an excerpt from the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha where it is mentioned that the evidence given before the committee shall not be published by any member or anyone else until it has been laid on the table.
Moitra further asked for the committee chairman to first of all conduct an enquiry into how the Hiranandani affidavit found its way to the media. “BJP's 1 point agenda is to expel me from LS to shut me up on Adani,” she reiterated on the post.
In the affidavit, businessman Hiranandani agreed to have paid bribes to Moitra in exchange of getting access to her Parliament login credentials and posing questions in the lower House. He also alleged that the TMC MP saw attacking the Adani Group as a way to become famous.
The allegations of the breach of parliamentary privilege, criminal conspiracy and contempt of the House by the TMC MP was first brought to light by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey.
The Ethics Committee confirmed that it has received the affidavit and said that it will conduct a comprehensive probe into all the charges. Sonkar, speaking to NDTV, called the allegations serious and added that Hiranandani was asked to be present before the committee.
Earlier, Moitra said she was ready to answer questions from the CBI and the Parliament’s Ethics Committee if called over charges that she took bribes from a businessman.
“I welcome answering questions to CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) and Ethics Committee (which has absolute majority of BJP members) if and when they call me,” Moitra said on Twitter. “I have neither time nor interest to feed an Adani-directed media circus trial or answer BJP trolls," she added.
(With agency inputs)