'Cash For Query' Row: LS Committee To Hold First Meet On Charges Against Mahua Moitra Tomorrow

BJP parliamentarian and complainant Nishikant Dubey and advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai are scheduled to record their statements tomorrow.

LS Committee will hold the first meet on bribery charges against Mahua Moitra tomorrow. ( Image Source :Sansad TV )

New Delhi: The Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha will hear the matter related to a "cash-for-query" complaint against TMC MP Mahua Moitra on Thursday. BJP parliamentarian and complainant Nishikant Dubey and advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai are scheduled to record their statements tomorrow, reported news agency PTI.

In his complaint to Speaker Om Birla, Dubey has cited documents shared by Dehadrai. Birla has referred the case to the committee led by BJP MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar.

According to PTI, Dubey said Dehadrai, who was once close to Moitra before having a fallout, has shared "irrefutable evidence of bribes exchanged" between her and businessman Darshan Hiranandani to target the Adani Group and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The panel's schedule for Thursday said, "Oral Evidence of Shri Jai Anant Dehadrai, Advocate in respect of 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. Oral evidence of Dr. Nishikant Dubey, MP, in respect of complaint dated 15 October, 2023 given by him against Smt. Mahua Moitra, MP for alleged direct involvement in cash for query in Parliament."

However, the TMC MP has dismissed the charges as a "jilted ex’s lies", a reference to Dehadrai, and accused the Adani Group of being behind them to target her as she has been relentless in raising questions of the conglomerate's practices and transactions.

It is to be noted that Dubey in his letter to the Speaker has claimed that 50 of 61 questions she asked in Lok Sabha till recently were focused on the Adani Group.

Meanwhile, Hiranandani, the CEO of real estate-to-energy group Hiranandani, who allegedly paid her to raise questions in Parliament, admitted that the TMC leader targeted Gautam Adani to "malign and embarrass" Modi whose impeccable reputation gave the opposition no opportunity to attack him.

In a signed "affidavit", he said he used the Rajya Sabha MP’s Parliamentary login to "directly" post questions for the BJP-led central government, news agency PTI reported.