Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra on Friday said that she will not appear before the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee, which is probing the "cash-for query" allegations on October 31 because she has prior commitments. She added, however, that she was "looking forward" to deposing before the committee any time after November 5 and said it was "imperative" and in the interest "of natural justice" that she be allowed to cross-examine businessman Darshan Hiranandani, who has levelled a series of allegations against her.
In an affidavit, Mr Hiranandani had claimed that Ms Moitra had given him her parliament login ID to frame questions on the Adani Group, which she felt was the "only way" to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He also claimed that she had made demands for "various favours" and he had gifted her expensive luxury items.
In a letter to BJP MP Vinod Sonkar, who is the chairman of the Ethics Committee, that she posted on X, formerly Twitter, Ms Moitra said she was eagerly looking forward to physically attending and presenting her defence against the "slanderous charges" levelled against her at the next date provided by the committee.
In its hearing on Thursday, the committee had recorded the statements of BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, who had filed a complaint against Ms Moitra before the Lok Sabha Speaker, and Supreme Court lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai, on whose letter the complaint was based.
Ms Moitra pointed out that few details were available on the gifts Mr Hiranandani had allegedly given her and said she should be allowed to cross-examine him.
"His affidavit, available in the public domain, is extremely scant on detail and provides no actual inventory of what he has allegedly given me. Given the seriousness of the allegations and in keeping with the principles of natural justice, it is imperative that I am allowed to exercise my right to cross-examine Shri Hiranandani," she said.
Stressing on the need for the committee to depose Mr Hiranandani, the Trinamool MP said that not doing so would be like holding a "kangaroo court".
"It is also imperative that he appear before the committee and provide a detailed verified list of the alleged gifts & favours he allegedly provided to me. I wish to place on record that any enquiry without the oral evidence of Shri Hiranandani will be incomplete, unfair and akin to holding a proverbial 'kangaroo court' and that he too will need to be called to depose before the Committee before it prepares its final report," she wrote.
'Announced On TV'
In her post with the letter, Ms Moitra claimed that Mr Sonkar had announced her October 31 summons on live TV long before the official letter was mailed to her.
"Chairman, Ethics Comm announced my 31/10 summons on live TV way before official letter emailed to me at 19:20 hrs. All complaints & suo moto affidavits also released to media. I look forward to deposing immediately after my pre-scheduled constituency programmes end on Nov 4," she wrote.
Explaining the reasons for not appearing on October 31, Ms Moitra said Durga Puja is the biggest festival in West Bengal and she had already "committed to attending numerous pre-scheduled Vijaya Dashami Sammelans/meetings (both government and political) in my constituency (Krishnanagar) from 30th October to 4th November 2023 and cannot be in Delhi on 31st October 2023".
She also pointed out that a similar courtesy had been extended to BJP MP Ramesh Biduri who had been summoned by the Privileges Committee on October 10 and had requested more time since he had scheduled political meetings in Rajasthan.
After the first hearing on Thursday, sources had told NDTV that the panel had agreed that the allegations against Ms Moitra were “very serious”.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
