'Even Most Tech Savvy Members...': Adhir Ranjan To LS Speaker On TMC MP's 'Cash For Query' Case

Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has detailed points raising doubts over certain aspects in the 'cash-for-query' case.

Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has written a letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla over the Ethics panel probe on the 'cash-for-query' allegations against TMC MP Mahua Moitra. He said that even those who are well versed with the tech advancements can also witness problems while placing questions on their parliament portals. Moitra has been accused of giving her parliament login credentials to Dubai-based businessman Darshan Hirandanadi to allow him to write questions in exchange for "cash and goods".

Highlighting the troubles one may encounter with the portal, the Congres MP said, "While members are to use the "official portal" for placing Questions, secretarial assistance or the help of aides is a necessity for accessing and using the Portal for day-to-day Business of the House."

"Even the most "tech savvy Members may find it difficult, if not impossible, to 'use' the Portal by oneself for placing Questions in Parliament. It is on account of this factor that the staff attached to Members is regularly imparted training on various aspects of the functions of the Official Portal of Parliament," he added.

The leader of opposition in the lower house of Parliament said that it is also a fact that advancements in, and adoption of digital technologies has brought about a sea change in the processes followed in "conducting Parliament's Business, including the Question Hour, as a result of which Members may become susceptible, and unwittingly find themselves on the "wrong side"."

The Congress leader also said it is difficult to link or attribute accepting gifts to a money trial as this is a common practice in social circles. 

The report of the Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha, which recommended the expulsion of Moitra in a "cash-for-query" case, will be tabled in the lower chamber of Parliament on Monday, PTI reported. According to the agenda documents released by the Lok Sabha Secretariat, Ethics Committee head Vinod Kumar Sonkar will lay the panel's maiden report on the table of the House. At a meeting on November 9, the committee accepted its findings, which recommended Moitra's ouster from the Lok Sabha due to the "cash-for-query" accusation.