LS panel may take 'grim view' of l'affaire Mahua Moitra

The ethics committee of Lok Sabha will meet on Thursday to adopt a draft report on the allegation against Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra amid indications that the panel may take a grim view of the charges against her.

Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey had approached Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla against Moitra, accusing her of asking questions in Lok Sabha at the behest of businessman Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for gifts.

The committee is likely to take a grim view of the charges against Moitra, more so after she accused its chief Vinod Kumar Sonkar of asking filthy and personal questions to her in the last meeting before walking out in a rage along with opposition members.

There are indications that the committee may make a recommendation against Moitra in its report to Speaker Om Birla amid a possibility of dissent notes from opposition members.

Sources said the committee is also expected to underline its unhappiness at the conduct of some opposition members during its proceedings and make a mention of it in its recommendations to the House.

They said the committee may make recommendation against BSP member Danish Ali, who was loudest in his attack on Sonkar's "indecent and personal" questions to Moitra.

Sonkar had described the conduct of members like Danish Ali and Janata Dal-United's Giridhari Yadav as unethical.

The 15-member committee has seven members from the BJP, three from the Congress, and one each from BSP, Shiv Sena, YSRCP, CPI-M and JD-U.

So far, the draft report has not been circulated to the members of the committee, sources in the opposition said.

Congress sources said its members N Uttam Kumar Reddy and V Vaithilingam will submit dissent notes. BSP member Kunwar Danish Ali is also set to submit his dissent note.

All five opposition members who attended the November 2 meeting walked out of the proceedings, alleging that Sonkar asked personal and indecent questions to Moitra regarding her travels, hotel stay and telephone calls.

In a related but separate development, Dubey on Wednesday said the Lokpal has ordered a CBI probe against Moitra on his complaint of alleged corruption by her.

Hitting back, Moitra said the CBI needs to first file an FIR on Rs 13,000 crore Adani coal "scam".

The ethics panel was scheduled to meet on Tuesday to consider and adopt its draft report but the meeting was rescheduled for Thursday.

On Tuesday, Moitra had claimed that the meeting was postponed to keep a Congress member away from the proceedings and adopt the report by a majority, prompting a sharp retort from Dubey.

Moitra claimed that no draft report of the committee was circulated to the members and that the BJP leaders were reaching out to allies to ensure their attendance to adopt the report by a majority.

Dubey took a dig at the Trinamool Congress MP contending that it was her guilty conscience that was leading her to worry about the proceedings of the parliamentary panel.