Mahua Moitra has claimed there is no regulation regarding sharing of login and password
In his fresh attack on Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, BJP leader Nishikant Dubey has cited a Lok Sabha document that states that replies to questions asked by MPs must remain confidential till the question is actually answered in the House.
Using the Hindi idiom of "chori fir seenazori" -- meaning aggression by a wrongdoer --, the BJP MP from Godda said replies to MPs' questions in Parliament can have ramifications in the industrial sector as well as bearings on national security. A Lok Sabha order dated November 10, he pointed out in a post on X, underlines the need for confidentiality in such case.
Ms Moitra faces allegations of asking questions in Parliament in exchange for monetary benefits and gifts from businessman Darshan Hiranandani. The Lok Sabha Ethics Committee has recently recommended her expulsion as MP.
Earlier, BJP MP Dubey wrote to Speaker Om Birla, accusing Ms Moitra of accepting bribes from Mr Hiranandani to ask questions targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and business rival Adani Group. The Trinamool MP is also accused of sharing her Parliament login credentials with the businessman so that he could post questions on her behalf. Ms Moitra has claimed that there is no regulation regarding the sharing of login and password.
Mr Dubey shared shots from a Lok Sabha bulletin sharing information "relating to Parliamentary and other matters".
"Members are aware that under a new initiative, replies to Starred Questions are being uploaded on Members' Portal by 0900 hours on the reply day. This initiative has been taken to facilitate Members to frame supplementaries. Similarly, replies to Unstarred Questions are being uploaded on Lok Sabha Homepage immediately after Question Hour," the document read.
"It may be noted that since the replies are login and password protected on the Members' Portal, they are exclusively for the use of Members only. Members are, therefore, requested to maintain confidentiality of the replies and not to share the contents with others until the Question Hour is over," it added.
Another section on the confidentiality clause underlined that replies to oral questions are strictly confidential until the question has been actually answered in the House. "In case the question has not reached for oral answer, the reply to the Question should not be released till the conclusion of Question Hour. Questions included in the lists of written answers are also to be treated as confidential until the same have been laid on the Table of the House after the Question Hour is over," it said.
"The accused MP has probably not been briefed properly by a PA like Hiranandani," the BJP said in a swipe at the Krishnanagar MP.
Mr Hiranandani has admitted to using Ms Moitra's login credentials and called them a "crazy error of judgment and deeply regrettable".
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