Cash-for-query case: LS panel may adopt draft report tomorrow; stringent action likely

The ethics committee of the Lok Sabha led by Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vinod Kumar Sonkar will meet on Tuesday to consider and adopt a draft report on the cash for query allegations against Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra, less than two weeks after it initiated a probe, functionaries said.

The panel might recommend strict action against Moitra, including disqualification for the remainder of the current Lok Sabha, they said, requesting anonymity.

The panel might take a cue from a similar case of cash for query in 2005 in which all 11 MPs suspected of accepting money for asking questions were disqualified from Parliament, the officials said. The Supreme Court upheld the disqualification in January 2007.

“Complaint dated 15 October, 2023 given by Dr. Nishikant Dubey, MP against Smt. Mahua Moitra, MP for alleged direct involvement in cash for query in Parliament with reference to examination/ investigation of alleged unethical conduct of Smt. Mahua Moitra, MP by the Committee on Ethics – Consideration and Adoption of Draft Report,” read the notice of the meeting uploaded on Sunday.

Moitra, however, continued her attack on the BJP on Sunday. “Also BJP – before you push out women MPs with fake narrative remember I have EXACT transcript of record in Ethics Committee verbatim. Chairman’s cheap sordid irrelevant questions, Opposition’s protests, my protests – all there in official black & white. Besharam & Behuda,” she posted on X (formerly Twitter).

BJP lawmaker Dubey, the primary complainant, accused Moitra of threatening Sonkar, a scheduled caste MP. “Is this the culture of Bengal where MPs are openly calling Vinod Sonkar ji, a Scheduled Caste MP who is the Chairman of the Ethics Committee, “ludicrous and shameless”? Remember Ambedkar ji gave the Constitution of India, Sonkar ji will protect it from the corrupt,” Dubey posted on X.

Moitra hit out at the BJP over possible criminal cases that might be probed by the Central Bureau of Investigation. “Shaking in my skin to know BJP planning criminal cases against me. Welcome them – only know that CBI and ED (Enforcement Directorate) need to file FIR against Adani for ₹13,0000 crore coal scam before they question how many pairs of shoes I have,” she said in another post on X.

On November 2, Moitra deposed before the panel but stormed out midway with five opposition members of the ethics committee, alleging that Sonkar was “unethical and biased”, and asked her “filthy” and “personal” questions.

Later, she wrote to Lok Sabha speaker Om Birla, alleging that she has been subjected to the proverbial vastraharan (disrobing) by Sonkar in the presence of all members of the committee.

Sonkar later said the panel wanted to hear Moitra, but the Krishnanagar lawmaker used anger to deflect against legitimate questions, and used unparliamentary language against the panel and the chair.

Sonkar insisted that “only pertinent questions” were asked that were related to business tycoon Darshan Hiranandani’s affidavit, in which he said he gave expensive gifts to Moitra and directly posted questions in Parliament on her behalf.

“The aim of the probe was to ascertain the facts related to the allegations of the unethical conducts of Mahua Moitra. Instead of cooperating with the committee, she became angry and used unparliamentary words against the panel and the chairman. The other members such as Danish Ali, Uttam Reddy and Giridhari Yadav tried to accuse the committee and walked out,” said Sonkar.

On October 26, the panel had called both Dubey and Moitra’s estranged friend, advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai, to depose. Dubey had written a letter to Birla based on documents provided by Dehadrai.