Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Friday (November 10) said that she will return to the Parliament with a bigger mandate in 2024 Lok Sabha elections, a day after the Ethics Committee of the lower House recommended her expulsion from the House in the ‘cash-for-query’ issue. She said that the matter “just helped me double my 2024 winning margin”.
“Proud to go down in parliamentary history as 1st person to be unethically expelled by Ethics Comm whose mandate doesn't include expulsion. 1st expel & THEN ask govt to ask CBI to find evidence. Kangaroo court, monkey business from start to finish,” Moitra posted on X, formerly Twitter.
"Never Waste a Good Crisis they say...- this just helped me double my 2024 winning margin," she added.
Ethics Committee action
The Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha on Thursday (November 9) recommended the expulsion of the TMC MP, capping a fortnight of actions that included the deposition of three people over three sittings.
Chaired by BJP MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar, the committee met in the national capital and adopted its 479-page report which, according to sources, recommended Moitra’s expulsion. Six members of the panel supported the adoption of the report while four others opposed it, Sonkar said.
The four opposition members said the panel's recommendation was “prejudiced” and “incorrect”, and said businessman Darshan Hiranandani, who is alleged to have given bribes to Moitra, should have been asked to depose before the panel.
Hiranandani's affidavit
He has only filed an affidavit in which he alleged that the TMC MP targeted Gautam Adani to “malign and embarrass" Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He alleged that Moitra provided him with her Parliament login and password to ask questions targeting Adani.
Mahua Moitra questioned the credibility of Hiranandani Group CEO Darshan Hiranandani's affidavit and alleged that it was “drafted by the PMO” and he was forced to sign it with the threat of a “total shut down" of his family's businesses.
The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) pointed a “proverbial gun" to the CEO and his father's heads and gave them a deadline of 20 minutes to sign the letter, Mahua claimed in her statement issued late on October 19.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey has accused Moitra of taking bribes from a businessman to ask questions in Parliament and urged Speaker Om Birla to constitute an inquiry committee to look into the charges against her. Birla then referred Dubey's complaint to Parliament's Ethics Committee.
(With PTI inputs)
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