Ethics panel recommends expelling Mahua Moitra from LS, Cong MP votes in favour

The Lok Sabha ethics committee on Thursday recommended the expulsion of Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra from the House in the 'cash-for-query' matter, capping a fortnight of actions that included deposition of three persons over three sittings.

The committee, chaired by BJP Lok Sabha member Vinod Kumar Sonkar, met in New Delhi and adopted its 479-page report which, according to sources, recommended Moitra's expulsion, possibly the first such action against an MP by the panel.

Committee chairman Sonkar told reporters that six members of the panel supported the adoption of the report and four opposed it.

In her first reaction to PTI after the Lok Sabha panel recommendation, Moitra said this was a "pre-fixed match by a kangaroo court" and added, "Even if they expel me, I will be back in the next Lok Sabha with a bigger mandate."

The ethics panel report will now be tabled in the Lok Sabha which will then vote on a motion to put the recommendation into action.

According to sources, Preneet Kaur, a Congress MP, is believed to have voted in support of the report.

Four opposition members said the panel's recommendation was "prejudiced" and "incorrect", and said businessman Darshan Hiranandani, who is alleged to have given bribes to Moitra, should have been asked to depose before the panel. He has only filed an affidavit.

Trouble for Moitra began when BJP MP Nishikant Dubey forwarded a complaint against the Trinamool Congress member by lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, accusing her of taking bribes for asking questions in the House at the behest of businessman Hiranandani to target the Adani group and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The complaint, dated October 15, had its share of intrigue when Hiranandani, whom the TMC MP called a friend, submitted a sworn affidavit to the Lok Sabha panel stating that he had given expensive gifts to her. The complaint also triggered a political slugfest with both Moitra and Dubey trading charges.

The ethics committee held its first meeting on the matter on October 26 when Dehadrai and Dubey submitted their evidence against Moitra. The Trinamool leader was the next to depose before the committee on November 2, which ended in high-drama with opposition members storming out of the meeting claiming indecent posers by the chairman to Moitra.

Former secretary general of the Lok Sabha P D T Achary said this is perhaps the first time the Lok Sabha ethics committee has recommended the expulsion of an MP.

In 2005, 11 MPs were expelled from Parliament in another 'cash-for-query' case but those expulsions were recommended by the Rajya Sabha ethics committee and a Lok Sabha inquiry committee.

The proceedings of the 'cash-for-query' issue in 2005 too was a fast-track one, with the matter coming to light on December 12 and leading to the expulsion of members on December 23, 2005.

Achary said the Lok Sabha ethics committee report will now be sent to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. The speaker may order that it be published, he said.

During the next session of Parliament, the committee chairman will table the report in the House and thereafter there will be a debate on it, followed by a vote on a government motion for the member's expulsion, Achary said.

The committee had earlier heard Moitra, BJP MP Dubey, who filed the complaint against her, and advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai.

Based on information shared by Dehadrai, the BJP MP accused Moitra of asking questions in the Lok Sabha to target the Adani group and Prime Minister Modi at the behest of businessman Hiranandani in exchange for gifts. Moitra has denied the charge of receiving any pecuniary benefit.

BJP member Aparajita Sarangi said, "These are baseless claims. Darshan Hiranandani has given a sworn affidavit which is sufficient."

She also rejected opposition members' claim that Moitra's submission is not yet complete, asserting that the TMC MP was given ample time by the committee to present her side.

The ruling TMC on Thursday came out in strong support of its MP, with party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee claiming that whoever questioned the government was "harassed" by the BJP-led NDA dispensation at the Centre.

Banerjee, who was speaking to reporters after appearing before the Enforcement Directorate in connection with an ongoing probe into the alleged school jobs scam in the state, also questioned how a parliamentary committee could consider acting against her even before accusations against Moitra were proven.

The TMC, while supporting Moitra, till now has had a hands-off approach and at one stage even said it would await the ethics committee's report on the issue.

Banerjee's unequivocal support on Thursday seems to indicate the regional party will put all its weight behind her in the battle ahead.