The parliament ethics committee’s report on the cash-for-query allegations against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra is likely to be tabled in Lok Sabha on Friday, reports said.
The report had been listed in the agenda of the lower house for December 4, but was not tabled.
The committee, headed by BJP MP Vinod Sonkar, has recommended the disqualification of Moitra as an MP and a detailed investigation into the allegations against her. The panel adopted its report at its meeting on November 8, with six members voting in favour and four members against.
Moitra can be expelled if the house votes in favour of the panel’s recommendations.
Meanwhile, the opposition members have demanded a discussion on the panel’s report before a decision is taken on it.
"If the report is tabled, we would insist on a full-fledged discussion as the draft was adopted in two-and-a-half minutes," BSP MP Danish Ali told reporters.
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Last week, Congress leader and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, urging him to review the protocols for operating the official portal of the house.
Chowdhury said if the recommendations of the ethics committee are right, as per media reports, then it has wide ramifications. “If the media reports on the recommendations of the Ethics Committee on choosing to recommend expelling Mahua Moitra from Parliament are right, it would, perhaps be the first such recommendation of the Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha. Expulsion from Parliament, you will agree Sir, is a serious punishment and has very wide ramifications,’ he had said.
The winter session of Parliament began on Monday and is scheduled to continue till December 22.
What is the controversy about?
Moitra, a staunch critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP, has been in the middle of a political storm ever since BJP MP Nishikant Dubey accused her of taking bribes from businessman Darshan Hiranadani for asking questions in parliament targeting Modi and industrialist Gautam Adani.
Dubey also alleged that the TMC MP had compromised the national interest by sharing the login details of her Lok Sabha account with Hiranandani, an “outsider”.
Moitra admitted that she had shared her login details with Hiranandani, but dismissed allegations of a quid pro quo, saying the businessman has long been a close friend of her.
The Trinamool MP deposed herself before the ethics committee on November 2, but stormed out of the meeting in the midway, along with some opposition members, accusing its chairman of asking personal and unethical questions.
“I have been subjected to the proverbial 'vastraharan' by him in the presence of all members of the Committee," she had later said in a letter to the Lok Sabha Speaker.
Dubey, who filed the complaint against Moitra, and advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai, who reportedly provided the evidence against the TMC MP, had also deposed before the committee.
In its 479-page report, the ethics committee recommended Moitra's expulsion from the lower house for "unethical conduct" and "contempt of the House".