Mahua ‘admits’ to sharing Parliament login credentials with Hiranandani
In an interview, TMC MP lists what she got from Hiranandani: Scarf, makeup, and the service of his car picking her up from Mumbai airport and dropping her off
Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra has admitted in an interview to a media house that she gave her Parliament login ID and password to her friend, businessman Darshan Hiranandani, but only so that someone in his office could type out the questions that were strictly her own and she would ask them in the Lok Sabha.
In the interview to India Today, Moitra has also claimed that all she received from Hiranandani were a scarf “as a birth present”, Bobbi Brown lipstick and eye shadow bought from a duty-free store at the Dubai airport “three, four, five times”, and the service of his car picking her up from the airport and dropping her off whenever she is in Mumbai, which is not often.
In the interview, she rubbished Hiranandi’s “sworn affidavit” claiming that she had given him her Parliament login and password so that he could post questions on her behalf. She admitted that she had indeed given him her login ID and password but it was so that someone in his office could type out the questions she had on the Parliament website since she worked from a “remote constituency”. According to her, all MPs follow the practice of having other people post the questions for them.
She claimed that after putting those questions, the person(s) would inform her over phone and she would go through them all at once to save time as she remains busy in her constituency. Once the questions, checked by her, were saved, she would share the OTP (one-time password) from her phone for the questions to be submitted. According to her, the idea of Hiranandani logging in to her ID and posting his own questions was “ludicrous”.
Security threat?
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who brought forth the allegations against her, took to Twitter to claim that sharing the login credentials was akin to “playing with the security of the country”. He shared a form that all MPs have to fill in and it states that the National Informatics Centre (NIC) will not share the login credentials with anyone without proper authorised. Moitra, however, has argued that there is no rule as to who can have an MP’s login credentials.
In the interview to India Today, Moitra has once again denied all allegations of taking bribes from Hiranandani and sought an opportunity to cross-examine him. She has argued that there is no mention of Rs 2 crore in cash allegedly given to her in Hiranandani’s affidavit. She has asked for documentary evidence of the cash changing hands, allegedly in lieu of asking questions in Parliament on Gautam Adani.
The Parliament Ethics Committee has summoned Moitra to present her arguments in her defence on October 31, but the MP has requested for more time because of Vijaya Dashami meetings in Krishnanagar, her constituency. However, most members of the Ethics Committee have already held that the charges against Moitra are serious and amount to a breach of parliamentary privilege.
MP Dubey and Delhi-based lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai have already recorded their statements before the Ethic Committee and have presented evidence against Moitra. Moitra has claimed that Dehadrai’s complaint against her was motivated by the bitter custody battle over their pet dog Henry.
