Cash for query case: Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra will be summoned by the Parliament panel and is expected to appear before it on October 31, sources said. The revelation came amid the meeting held in connection to the 'cash for query' allegation against Moitra. The first meeting in connection to the 'cash for query' allegation against TMC MP Mahua Moitra took place earlier in the day.
Lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai and BJP leader Nishikant Dubey appeared before the Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha to record their statements in connection with the cash-for-query allegations against Trinamool Congress member Mahua Moitra. In his complaint to Speaker Om Birla, BJP member Nishikant Dubey has cited documents shared by Dehadrai to back his cash-for-query allegations against Moitra.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey after appearing before the committee said, "They were normal questions...All I can say is that all the MPs are concerned...When they call me next I will come...The question is whether the propriety and dignity of Parliament will hold. It is a question of the dignity of Parliament. The Ethics Committee is more worried than me."
"Documents don't lie," Dubey said when pointed out that Moitra had refuted all the allegations levelled against her. In the letter to Birla dated October 15, Dubey said the advocate, close to Moitra before they fell out, has shared "irrefutable evidence of bribes exchanged" between her and businessman Darshan Hiranandani to target the Adani Group and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
'Allegations are serious'
Informing about the summon, Chairman of Parliament Ethics Committee, Vinod Sonkar said, "...Committee heard both the people who were summoned today - the lawyer and Nishikant Dubey. Their evidence were looked into. Looking into the seriousness of it, the Committee decided to summon Mahua Moitra asking her to appear before it on October 31. Secondly, the Committee also decided to send letters to the IT Ministry and MHA for details about the conversation between (Darshan) Hiranandani, Mahua Moitra and the lawyer (Jai Anant Dehadrai)."
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla had referred the matter to the committee headed by BJP member Vinod Kumar Sonkar. Dehadrai was the first to record his statement before the Ethics Committee, while Dubey appeared before the panel in the afternoon. Dubey told reporters that he would reply to whatever questions the committee would ask him.
'The jilted ex's lies'
The fiery TMC member dismissed the charges as a "jilted ex's lies", a reference to Dehadrai, and accused the Adani Group of being behind them to target her as she has been relentless in raising questions on the conglomerate's practices and transactions. In his letter to the speaker, Dubey said 50 of 61 questions she asked in 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, said the TMC leader targeted Gautam Adani to "malign and embarrass" Modi whose impeccable reputation gave the opposition no opportunity to attack him.
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