'Gave My Login ID, Password To Darshan Hiranandani For...': Mahua Moitra On 'Cash-For-Query' Charges

TMC MP Mahua Moitra has said that she gave her Parliament login details to her 'friend' Darshan Hiranandani. She also said it was "ludicrous" to assume that he would key in his own questions.

TMC MP Mahua Moitra is facing a complaint of having illegally shared her Parliament login details with a businessman.

Source : PTI

Amid the ongoing row over 'cash-for-query' allegations against TMC MP Mahua Moitra, she said that she gave her Parliament login ID and password to businessman and her "friend" Darshan Hiranandani to get someone to type the questions to be asked in the Lok Sabha. She further stated that after putting the question in, an OTP (one-time password) comes to her mobile phone, and the question gets submitted only after she gives the OTP.

In an interview with India Today, Moitra said, "Someone in Darshan Hiranandani's office typed the question that I gave on the Parliament website. After putting the question, they would call me to inform me, and I would read all the questions in one go as I am always busy in my constituency. After putting the question, an OTP (one-time password) comes on my mobile phone. I would give that OTP, and only then is the question submitted. So, the idea that Darshan would log in to my ID and put in questions of his own is ludicrous."

Moitra was responding to Hiranandani's "sworn affidavit" that said the TMC MP gave him her login details to post questions on her behalf. She also hit out at BJP MP Nishikant Dubey over his claim of "entering an agreement with NIC" to "not share the email ID and password with anyone". 

Moitra asserted that there is no such rule. "Now that the cash-for-query has fallen flat, this is being made out to be some great issue of national security. Mr. Dubey has gone to the press and said that it is a national security issue. The NIC login has no rules as to who can have your login," India Today quoted her as saying. 

She further said that contrary to the BJP's claims of Moitra putting national security "at risk" by sharing sensitive information with a foreign entity, she gave the Parliament login details to her "friend".  "Darsh is my friend and holds an Indian passport. BJP also claims Darshan logged in from Dubai. I myself have logged in from Switzerland. If the NIC question and answer is so protected, why don't you put restrictions on IP addresses entering it?" she pointed out.

Earlier on Thursday, Moitra said that she would not be appearing before the Lok Sabha's ethics committee on October 31 due to "scheduled" constituency programmes. The Lok Sabha MP sought time after November 5. The Ethics Committee of the Lok Sabha had asked Mahua Moitra to appear before it on October 31 to record her statements in the "cash-for-query" complaint against her. In the first hearing of the panel on Thursday, Nishikant Dubey and advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai recorded their statements.