TMC waiting for Parliamentary panel probe report on MP Mahua Moitra: Derek O'Brien

Kolkata/New Delhi, Oct 22

The Trinamool Congress on Sunday said since its MP Mahua Moitra has already clarified her stand on allegations of bribe for questions raised, the party would now await the probe by the parliamentary ethics committee as the matter has to do with “her rights and privileges”.

The TMC has distanced itself from the controversy over the allegation against its Lok Sabha MP. BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai have alleged that Moitra had accepted favours from businessman Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for raising questions in Parliament. In response, Moitra filed a defamation suit against them before the Delhi High Court. Dubey’s complaint has been referred to Parliament’s Ethics Committee by Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla. Rajya Sabha MP O’Brien said, “The member concerned has been advised by the party leadership to clarify her position regarding the allegations levelled against her. She has already done that. However, since the matter has to do with an elected MP, her rights and privileges, let the matter be investigated by the right forum of Parliament, after which the party leadership will take an appropriate decision.”

TMC’s West Bengal general secretary and spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that the party had nothing to say on the issue and that the “person around whom this controversy was revolving is best suited to react to this”.

Darshan Hiranandani, the CEO of real estate-to-energy group Hiranandani, who allegedly paid Moitra to raise questions in Parliament about Adani Group, recently claimed in a signed affidavit that she targeted Gautam Adani to “malign and embarrass Prime Minister Narendra Modi whose impeccable reputation gave opposition no opportunity to attack him”. Vinod Sonkar, the chairman of the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee, had said he had received the sworn-in affidavit from Hiranandani.

Moitra, however, has 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 “total shutdown” of his family’s businesses.

BJP MP Dubey, meanwhile, said he would be observing a “ceasefire till Dasehra on October 24”. Dubey is scheduled to appear before the Lok Sabha’s Ethics Committee on October 26 to record his statement in connection with his allegations against Moitra.

Moitra has been dismissive of his charges and has claimed that the BJP had been targeting her at the behest of the Adani Group, which has been at the receiving end of her attack in and outside Parliament. “Due to Durga Puja, I invoke ceasefire from my side from Ashtami today to Dashmi on October 24,: Dubey said on X.