Today (November 2) was an important day in the alleged cash-for-query case as the accused Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra appeared before the Parliamentary Ethics Committee in New Delhi. But, the panel meeting ended absurdly after Moitra and Opposition members of the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee walked out of the meeting, accusing the panel’s chairperson of asking the TMC MP personal and unethical questions.
As the meeting abruptly ended, panel members belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Opposition traded allegations against each other.
Moitra wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla saying, “I write to you in great anguish today to update you on the unethical, sordid, and prejudiced behaviour meted out to me at the hearing of the Ethics Committee by the Chairman. I would urge you immediately to give me protection from being subjected to personal humiliation and malicious conduct by the aforesaid under the guise of a purported “Ethics Committee” hearing.”
Here are the reactions from penel members
The committee chairman Vinod Sonkar: The BJP MP alleged that objectionable words were used against the committee’s functioning and against him.
“Instead of giving answers, she (Mahua Moitra) got angry and used unparliamentary language for the Chairperson, and Committee members. Danish Ali, Girdhari Yadav and other opposition MPs tried to accuse the committee and walked out… The committee will sit and decide the further action,” Sonkar said.
Uttam Kumar Reddy: The Congress MP said they found the ethics committee chairperson’s questions to Moitra undignified and unethical. Reddy said he did not hear any unparliamentary language from Mahua Moitra and whatever BJP MP Nishiknath Dubey had said was completely wrong.
“Probably BJP is using him (Dubey) as a point man to target Mahua. Because Mahua pointed out that he has been quoting false educational qualifications in his nomination papers and otherwise too. So Nishikant Dubey’s statement on her, you can’t take it for granted because they have in the past made complaints against each other. So he may be targeting her. It’s totally a false issue,” he added.
Aparajita Sarangi: The BJP MP said the proceedings of the Parliamentary Standing Committee are confidential by nature and they should have not spoken outside about the meeting.
“The very thing that she (Moitra) did was wrong. They all came out and they all said things about the committee, about the goings on within the committee, it was wrong. These things are very confidential. The conduct of Mahua Moitra was condemnable. She used unparliamentary words for our chairman and for all the members of the committee. So, the chairperson of the Committee was asking questions regarding the contents of the affidavit by Hiranandani and she did not want to answer them. And then they created a ruckus,” she added.
Separately talking to reporters, Dubey said Moitra tried to create a wrong narrative about the proceedings and the opposition was perturbed that the ethics panel was headed by an OBC MP.
“No power can save Moitra after all evidences provided by me and others against her,” he said.
(With agencies inputs)
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