Mahua Moitra walks out of parliamentary panel meet, calls queries 'filthy'
Tells parliamentary committee charge was motivated by animus of advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai after she broke relations with him
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra and Opposition MPs on Thursday (November 2) walked out of a meeting of a parliamentary ethics committee meeting on the cash-for-query case, according to media reports.
The Opposition MPs said the committee asked Moitra "personal and unethical questions". "What kind of meeting was this? They are asking all kinds of filthy questions," a visibly upset Moitra told reporters as she and the Opposition MPs stormed out of the room.
Earlier, in her statement to the committee, she said a "sour personal relationship" motivated the filing of the complaint over alleged cash-for-query against her.
The flare-up apparently happened during her cross-examination after lunch, said an NDTV report.
Earlier, Moitra pleaded innocence to the 'cash-for-query' allegation levelled against her and told the ethics committee that the charge is motivated by the animus of advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai after she broke her personal relations with him, PTI said quoting sources.
She found support from some opposition MPs, including N Uttam Kumar Reddy of the Congress and Danish Ali of the BSP, in the meeting while a few BJP members, including VD Sharma, wanted her to respond to the substantive part of the allegations and not make it all about a personal relationship going bad.
The PTI report said a large part of her deposition before the Lok Sabha's Ethics Committee was about her relationship with Dehadrai as she appeared to blame him for leaks and the allegations.
Citing Dehadrai's submission, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey filed a complaint against her with Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla who referred the matter to the committee.
'Cash-for-queries'
Moitra has been accused of asking questions, which were keyed in through her parliamentary account, at the behest of businessman Darshan Hiranandani in return for bribes and favours from the Dubai-based scion of a well-known business family.
In her remarks to media, Moitra has admitted that she shared her log-in credentials with Hiranandani, whom she has described as a close friend for a long time, but has ruled out any pecuniary motive and asserted that the questions were always hers.
The Trinamool Congress MP has claimed that the Adani Group is behind the "bogus" charges due to her strident criticism of the business conglomerate.
