TMC MP Mahua Moitra has been accused of “asking questions on bribery,” and the Ethics Committee of the lok Sabha has recommended that she will be removed from the lower house of Parliament. At the committee meeting on Thursday, the proposal was approved 6-4. The TMC MP made a complete rejection of the committee’s recommendation. She described it as “a kangaroo court match that was pre-arranged.” Mahua declared that India’s democracy is “dead.”
What will happen in this case going forward is the question that now arises. The 479-page report recommended Moitra’s expulsion from the Lok Sabha. There will be a vote on the related proposal. In this case, ethics committee chairman and BJP MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar said that six members of the committee supported accepting the report and four opposed it. Opposition MPs opposing the report termed the committee’s recommendation as ‘wrong’.
The BJP MP filed the complaint:
Through lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai, BJP MP Nishikant Dubey filed a complaint against Mahua Moitra with Speaker Om Birla of the Lok Sabha. In the complaint, Dubey charged Mahua Moitra with accepting bribes in exchange for asking pointed questions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Adani Group in the House. October 26 was the date of the committee’s inaugural meeting in this regard. Following this, on November 2, Mahua Moitra gave a committee appearance.
Recommending expulsion for political reasons
Five opposition members of the ethics committee have given their dissent note. In this, they have said that the expulsion of Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra has been recommended purely for political reasons. The members say that this will lead to a dangerous situation in the future. Danish Ali, a BSP MP, has made accusations against the committee chairman. Ali claimed that it is against the rules for committee chairman Vinod Kumar Sonkar and participating BJP MPs to have leaked information to the media regarding the committee’s work on the Moitra case. This report of the Ethics Committee has now been submitted to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla.
Now this report will be presented in the parliament. After this, it will be voted on in the parliament. Talking about this, former Secretary General of Lok Sabha PTD Acharya said that this is probably the first time that the Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha has proposed the expulsion of an MP. He further informed that in the year 2005, 11 MPs were expelled in another Cash For Query case. But then it was recommended by Rajya Sabha Ethics Committee and Lok Sabha Inquiry Committee.
Targeting Vinod Sonkar, the head of the Lok Sabha Committee, Moitra claimed that the BJP MP had asked her obscene and ridiculous questions on 2nd November during her appearance at the committee. That is what she said in a post on social media site X,” Shaking in my skin to know BJP planning criminal cases against me. Welcome them – only know that CBI and ED need to file FIR against Adani for ₹13,0000 crore coal scam before they question how many pairs of shoes I have”. She has claimed that the BJP is plotting a crime against me.
Between 2019 and 2023, 50 of the 61 questions asked by Ms. Moitra were at the behest of Darshan Hiranandani, Mr. Dubey alleged, adding that the MP gave Mr. Hiranandani access to her Lok Sabha account for him to directly post the questions. Mahua Moitra rubbished all allegations against her, labelling Mr. Dehadrai as a “jilted ex”. Mahua Moitra said that the media channel which accessed the report is majority owned by the Adani group, against whom she has raised very serious issues of corporate fraud and breach of financial and securities regulations in the Lok Sabha.
She further said that the group is under scanner for alleged coal scam” I have been targeted for speaking out against this corporate giant and it is absolutely shocking how a channel owned by this group has access to a confidential Committee report which is the subject of my alleged unethical conduct,” Mahua Moitra further alleged. Moitra is now under the sword of eviction. Raghav Chadha, an AAP MP, had suspended Sanjay Singh prior to Moitra.
But Moitra’s situation is unique. It is unclear what Moitra’s own party, the TMC, will say on the matter. In actuality, the TMC has refrained from publicly endorsing Moitra thus far. The party as a whole, led by Mamata Banerjee, has remained silent ever since the issue surfaced.With the exception of TMC’s second-ranking member Abhishek Banerjee, nobody bothered to defend Mahua. Mahua, according to Abhishek, is a victim of politics. Furthermore, he asserted that She’s capable of winning his own war. It remains to be seen if Moitra will receive the party’s backing in the event of her expulsion. This raises concerns about her potential career path as well. Will TMC issue her a ticket once more???
