THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
New Delhi, Nov 1: Mahua Moitra, a Member of Parliament for the Trinamool Congress (TMC), announced on Wednesday that she will appear before the Lok Sabha’s Ethics Committee on Thursday, November 2, following the panel’s directive over the ongoing cash-for-query case.
She wrote a two-page letter on X stating that she was seeking to “cross-examine” Supreme Court attorney Jai Anant Dehadrai, who had accused the MP of accepting bribes in exchange for asking questions in Parliament.
Moitra has restated her call to question businessman Darshan Hiranandani, who, in a “sworn affidavit” accused the MP of sharing her Parliament login information to pose questions about the Adani Group, allegedly aiming to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“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,” she wrote on X.
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. pic.twitter.com/A8MwFRsImk
— Mahua Moitra (@MahuaMoitra) November 1, 2023
The TMC MP expressed in the letter her keenness to “place on record” that she wants to cross-examine Hiranandani and Dehadrai.
“I wish to place on record that I am requesting the committee to answer in writing and place on record their decision to either allow or disallow such cross-examination,” Moitra’s X post read.
She also questioned if the ethics panel is the appropriate place to look into this kind of purported criminality, arguing that law enforcement agencies should be the ones conducting the investigation in order to prevent even the “slightest misuse of committees by governments enjoying a brute majority in Parliament”.
Moitra continued by saying that the ethics panel should be sent a copy of any report requested from any department and given the opportunity to cross-examine the department in question if the panel decides to rely on it.
Citing her scheduled Vijaya Dashami programs, the TMC MP had earlier asked for a summon date beyond November 5. She stated it was “extremely surprising” that the ethics panel had rejected her request. She referenced the case of BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri, who was called before the Lok Sabha’s Privileges Committee on October 10 due to a dispute involving hate speech with Danish Ali of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), but was let to appear at a later date at his request.
Asserting that Bidhuri’s example is replete with “political motives” and serves little to improve the credibility of privileges and ethics panels, Moitra denounced the “double standards.”
