Mahua Moitra ‘cash-for-query’ row: LS Ethics Committee meet on Oct 26
Panel’s schedule says oral evidence of Dehadrai and Dubey against Moitra will be recorded “for alleged direct involvement in cash for query in parliament"
The Lok Sabha's Ethics Committee will hold its first meeting on Thursday (October 26) on the "cash for query" allegation against TMC MP Mahua Moitra, with BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai set to record their statements.
In his complaint to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Dubey cited documents shared by Dehadrai. Birla has referred the complaint to the Ethics Committee headed by BJP MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar.
Dubey said the advocate, once close to Moitra, has shared "irrefutable evidence of bribes exchanged" between her and businessman Darshan Hiranandani to target the Adani Group and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The panel’s schedule said the oral evidence of Dehadrai and Dubey against Moitra will be recorded “for alleged direct involvement in cash for query in parliament".
The fiery TMC member has dismissed the charges as a "jilted ex’s lies", a reference to Dehadrai.
She also blamed the Adani Group for the complaint because of relentless questioning of the conglomerate's practices and transactions.
Dubey’s charge
In his letter to the Speaker, Dubey said 50 of 61 the questions Moitra asked in the Lok Sabha till recently were focused on the Adani Group.
In a signed affidavit, Hiranandani, the CEO of real estate-to-energy eponymous group who allegedly paid her to raise questions in parliament, has admitted that the TMC leader targeted Gautam Adani to "malign and embarrass" Modi.
(With agency inputs)
