'Cash for Query' Row: Mahua Moitra 'Created Ruckus, Used Unparliamentary Language', Says Ethics Panel Chief

Lok Sabha ethics committee chairperson Vinod Sonkar said on Thursday that TMC MP Mahua Moitra, who appeared before the parliamentary panel in the ‘cash for query’ matter, created a ruckus to avoid questions put to her, got angry and used unparliamentary language before storming out of the meeting.

Sonkar told CNN-News18 that Moitra was creating a “false narrative” that the committee asked her “filthy” and “unbecoming” questions, and that she had done this to avoid the interrogation into her alleged unethical conduct as a Lok Sabha member.

“The aim was to investigate charges of unethical conduct against Mahua Moitra, but she created a ruckus to avoid questions, shouted, got angry, used unparliamentary language while leaving,” Sonkar said, adding that some opposition members of the committee, including Danish Ali and Girdhari Yadav, also supported her aggressive behaviour and left the meeting.

The BJP MP said Moitra did not behave in a manner expected of a Lok Sabha member and, seeing the charges against her, she should have cooperated with the panel. Reacting to allegations of bias and asked if the proceedings of the meeting were being selectively leaked as claimed by opposition members, Sonkar said, “I can only say, we have some moral obligations to adhere to as an ethics committee. She has not cooperated from Day 1 in the probe against her, but has tried to pressure the committee with her indecent antics.”

He further said the committee will take a collective decision on how to proceed in the matter concerning Moitra. The BJP, meanwhile, has accused the TMC MP of creating a wrong narrative about the ethics panel meeting with Lok Sabha member Nishikant Dubey alleging that the opposition was perturbed by the fact that the panel is headed by an OBC member. “They were unable to digest the fact,” he said.

Addressing a press conference, the BJP MP and complainant in the matter said the committee was bound to question Moitra on the affidavit filed by businessman Darshan Hiranandani. He said “no power” can save her after all the evidence provided by him and others against her.

Moitra has been accused of asking questions, which were keyed in through her parliamentary account, at the behest of Hiranandani in return for bribes and favours from the Dubai-based scion of a well-known business family.

Opposition members in ethics panel storm out

Opposition members in the Lok Sabha ethics committee also stormed out of the meeting along with Moitra, accusing Sonkar of asking her personal and unethical questions. “We found the ethics committee chairperson’s questions to Moitra undignified and unethical,” said Congress MP and panel member N Uttam Kumar Reddy after the walkout.

Opposition members of the committee also questioned the manner in which the meeting was conducted. After the meeting, BJP MP and panel member Aparajita Sarangi, however, said Moitra behaved in an angry, rude and arrogant manner when she was asked about the affidavit submitted to the committee by Hiranandani.

Moitra pleaded innocence to the allegations levelled against her and told the panel that the charge is motivated by animus of advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai after she broke her personal relations with him, sources said.

She was supported by opposition MPs, including Reddy and Danish Ali of the BSP, in the meeting while a few BJP members, including VD Sharma, wanted her to respond to the substantive part of the allegations and not make it all about the personal relationship going bad.

Sources said a large part of her deposition before the committee was about her relationship with Dehadrai as she appeared to blame him for the leaks and allegations.

(With PTI inputs)