Amid bribery allegations surrounding Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA and the general secretary of the party's West Bengal unit Agnimitra Paul weighed in and asked whether Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was aware of Moitra's actions.
"TMC MP Mahua Moitra shared the login ID and password of Lok Sabha to Darshan Hiranandani. Sitting in Dubai, he is posting questions on the Lok Sabha portal. Mahua Moitra has accepted a bribe for asking a question about Adani in the Parliament. Wasn't Mamata Banerjee aware of what her MP is doing?" Paul told news agency ANI.
What is the controversy?
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. The BJP leader also demanded immediate suspension of Moitra from the House.
Claiming that an advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai has shared “irrefutable evidence” of the bribes, Dubey demanded the Lok Sabha Speaker to constitute an inquiry committee against Moitra. “I am in receipt of a letter from Jai Anant Dehadrai, Advocate, wherein, he has shared irrefutable evidence of bribes exchanged between Mohua Moitra, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) and Darshan Hiranandani, a well-known business tycoon, to ask question(s) in Parliament in exchange for 'Cash' and 'Gifts',” the BJP MP alleged in the letter dated October 15.
Dubey claimed that the advocate has done an “elaborate and painstaking research” on the basis of which he has concluded that till quite recently, Moitra asked approximately 50 questions in Parliament, out of total 61, posted by her, which “shockingly seek information, with the intent of protecting or perpetuating business interests of Darshan Hiranandani and his Company”.
Notably, BJP leader Dubey's complaint has been referred to Parliament's Ethics Committee by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
Darshan Hiranandani, the CEO of real estate-to-energy group Hiranandani, who allegedly paid Moitra to raise questions in Parliament about Adani Group, recently claimed in a signed affidavit that she targeted Gautam Adani to "malign and embarrass" Prime Minister Narendra Modi whose “impeccable reputation” gave opposition no opportunity to attack him. He alleged that Moitra provided him with her Parliament login and password to ask questions targeting Adani.
Mahua Moitra's response
In response, Moitra filed a defamation suit against them before the Delhi High Court. Moitra, however, has raised questions over the credibility of Hiranandani's affidavit, alleging that it was "drafted by the PMO" and he was forced to sign it after being "threatened" with "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 Thursday night (October 19).
In a tweet, the TMC lawmaker said she would welcome answering questions to the CBI and Ethics Committee whenever she was called. "I welcome answering questions to CBI and Ethics Committee (which has an absolute majority of BJP members) if and when they call me. I have neither time nor interest to feed an Adani-directed media circus trial or answer BJP trolls. I am enjoying Durga Puja in Nadia. Shubho Sashthi," she wrote on X.
(with ANI inputs)
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