21

Oct

Did the Ethics Committee violate rules in Mahua Moitra case?

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New Delhi, 21 October 2023

I have neither time nor interest to feed a Adani-directed media circus trial or answer BJP trolls, Moitra wrote on X.

Dr Satish Misra 

What has come out in the public domain on serious allegations of ‘Bribe for Query’  levelled by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra seems to be a mere tip of iceberg as substantial material will come out in coming days and weeks.
Available details suggest that an interesting script of a crime-thriller serial is going to unfold which has elements of big business, expensive gifts, a Rottweiler dog called Henery, underworld and all that goes to make a popular show. This thriller revolves around a top business group having alleged close ties and nexus with the country’s ruling establishment including the top leader and a popular and fiery woman politician who tries to expose trails of corruption.           
The BJP MP Nishikant Dubey wrote a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla in which he has brought forth allegations accusing the Trinamool MP of breach of privilege, contempt of the house and criminal conspiracy. 
The Speaker acted with alacrity sending the issue to the Ethics Committee. Head of the Committee BJP MP Vinod Sonkar said on October 20 that it had also received the affidavit by industrialist- builder Darshan Hiranandani alleging that he bribed Moitra to ask questions in Parliament. 
In his affidavit, Dubai based Hiranandani claimed that the Trinamool MP made frequent demands of him asking for various favours, including gifting her expensive luxury items. The businessman also alleged the MP had given him her Parliament login password and that she saw attacking the Adani Group as a way to become famous.
Going against the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in the Lok Sabha, Sonkar said, "We have received Darshan Hiranandani's affidavit. The committee will hear Dubey's complaint on October 26. He has been asked to present evidence in front of the committee." Media trial of sorts began the moment the Committee chairman went public talking of details to media. 
The Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business in Lok Sabha clearly state:: "The evidence given before the committee shall not be published by any member of the committee or by any other person until it has been laid on the table."
Calling the allegations very serious, Sonkar said that the committee will first examine Dubey's letter and Hiranandani's affidavit. We will then also hear Moitra's version, who has vehemently denied the charges and said she is prepared for any inquiry.
The allegations are very serious. The case has gone beyond the prima facie evidence which is why we are examining it," Sonkar said.
Moitra, the Lok Sabha MP representing Krishnanagar in West Bengal, has sought a permanent injunction against Dubey, Dehadrai, social media platform X, search engine Google, and YouTube and to restrain them from making, publishing, and circulating per se defamatory, ex facie false and malicious statements against her.
She has also claimed that the Prime Minister’s office drafted businessman Hiranandani’s affidavit submitted before the Lok Sabha’s ethics committee.
Hiranandani, top real-estate developer, deposed in his affidavit on October 19 that Moitra had provided him her Parliament’s login credentials so that he could post questions directly on her behalf.
In the affidavit, the businessman claimed that Moitra thought she could effectively attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi by attacking Gautam Adani and his group.
Hiranandani also alleged that Moitra was getting help from other people like journalist Sucheta Dalal who were supplying her with unverified information relating to Gautam Adani and his companies. Dalal has denied the claim
In a statement, Moitra said the contents of the letter were “a joke” and remarked that it appeared to have been drafted by “some half-wit in the PMO who doubles up as a creative writer in the BJP’s IT cell”.
“The affidavit is on white paper and not on official letterhead or notarised. Why would one of India’s most respected/educated businessmen sign a letter like this on white paper unless a gun was put to his head to do it?”, Moitra said in her statement..
Moitra asked why Hiranandani had not read out the affidavit in a press conference or tweeted it. “If indeed he has ‘confessed’ to this, why is he not releasing it officially rather than through back channel leaks?” she said.
Moitra asked how Hiranandani, who accompanied the Prime Minister abroad recently as part of his business delegation and “enjoys direct access to every minister and the PMO”, could be “coerced by a first-time Opposition MP into giving her gifts and giving into her demands”.
Moitra, MP from Krishnanagar in West Bengal, alleged that the Prime Minister’s Office had drafted the letter and held a “proverbial gun to Darshan and his father’s (Hiranandani Group co-founder Niranjan Hiranandani) heads and gave them 20 minutes to sign the letter sent to them”.
“They were told they will be finished, the CBI would raid them and all government businesses would stop and all PSU bank financing would be stopped immediately,” she wrote.
 “Though tragic, it is totally understandable that Darshan (who is a dear friend) would need to think of what is at stake for him here – namely the continuation of his family businesses built up over decades and the fate of thousands of employees - and buckle under pressure and sign this”, Moitra wrote.
In her statement, Moitra had described Dehadrai as a “jilted-ex with an acrimonious personal history with me who wanted to somehow get back at me”.
I welcome answering questions to CBI & Ethics Committee (which has absolute majority of BJP members) if & when they call me. I have neither time nor interest to feed a Adani-directed media circus trial or answer BJP trolls, Moitra wrote on X.
Noted Lawyer Prashant Bhushan wrote on the X that Mahua Moitra's response to the hit job being done on her by her Ex & by the 'Adani Govt'. "Why would a well- connected corporate seek my help? The 'leaked affidavit' of Darshan Hiranandani on plain paper has been coerced from him by threats of ED/CBI raids& ruining his businesses, he said. 
A cursory look at the available facts suggest a hatchet plot.

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