BJP MP Nishikant Dubey on Wednesday launched a fresh attack on Trinamool Congress (TMC) lawmaker Mahua Moitra over allegations that the latter took bribes from a businessman in exchange for raising questions on the Adani issue in Parliament.
He said the question was not about the Adani issue or ‘fake degree’, an old jab against him by Moitra, but “about your corruption by misleading the country”.
In a tweet in Hindi, Dubey wrote, “The question is about Parliament’s decorum, national security and about the MP’s propriety, corruption and criminality. She has to answer if NIC mails were accessed in Dubai, whether questions were asked for money and who covered expenses for trips abroad. She has to answer if she took the permission of the Lok Sabha Speaker and External Affairs Ministry for her trips.”
“The question is not about Adani, degree or theft, but about your corruption by misleading the country,” he said, adding hashtags of “degree wali desh beche” (degree holder sells the country) and “chand paise ke le jamir beche” (she sold her conscience for money).
WHAT IS THE CONTROVERSY ALL ABOUT?
A row erupted on October 15 when Dubey accused Moitra of “asking questions in Parliament in exchange for cash and gifts” from businessman Darshan Hiranandani. He urged Speaker Om Birla to constitute an inquiry committee to look into the charges against her. Birla has referred Dubey’s complaint to Parliament’s Ethics Committee.
Citing a letter he received from Jai Anant Dehadrai, a Supreme Court lawyer, who is the estranged partner of Moitra, Dubey said the advocate shared “irrefutable” evidence of bribes being given to Moitra.
In his letter to Birla, Dubey claimed 50 of 61 questions she asked in the Lok Sabha till recently were focused on the Adani Group, the business conglomerate which the TMC MP has often accused of malpractices, more so, after it was at the receiving end of a critical report by short-seller Hindenburg Research.
The row intensified with the firebrand TMC leader blaming a “Fake Degree MP” and her “jilted ex” for the controversy.
Darshan Hiranandani, the CEO of real estate-to-energy group Hiranandani, recently claimed in a letter that Moitra targeted Gautam Adani to “malign and embarrass Prime Minister Narendra Modi whose impeccable reputation gave opposition no opportunity to attack him”.
Moitra, however, raised questions over the credibility of Hiranandani’s affidavit, alleging that it was “drafted by the PMO” and he was forced to sign it after being “threatened” with a “total shutdown” of his family’s businesses.
The TMC said it would take a decision on the matter after the Parliamentary Ethics Committee completes its probe.
