Mahua Moitra of TMC slams ethics committee report: ‘1st expel, then… Kangaroo court’

Mahua Moitra of the Trinamool Congress on Friday said she is proud to go down in parliamentary history as the “first person to be unethically expelled by the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee”. Her social media post comes a day after the ethics committee recommended her expulsion from the House in the "cash-for-query" matter.

“Proud to go down in parliamentary history as 1st person to be unethically expelled by Ethics Comm whose mandate doesn’t include explusion. 1st expel & THEN ask govt to ask CBI to find evidence. Kangaroo court, monkey business from start to finish,” the TMC MP wrote on 'X'.

"Never Waste a Good Crisis they say... - this just helped me double my 2024 winning margin," Moitra said in another post. She apparently deleted the post later.

On Thursday, the ethics committee recommended Moitra's expulsion, capping a fortnight of actions that included the deposition of three people over three sittings.

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

Draft against Mahua Moitra was adopted 6-4 margin

The recommendations of the report, which was adopted by a margin of 6-4, also mentioned that Moitra accepted “money — cash and kind, amenities and various other facilities” from businessman Darshan Hiranandani, with whom the password and login details were shared. It also noted that 50 out of the 61 questions asked by Moitra in Parliament sought information “with the intent of protecting or perpetuating business interests” of Hiranandani.

“Moitra had deliberately shared her Lok Sabha login credentials with Darshan Hiranandani, a business tycoon, based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, thereby, facilitating him to operate the same from Dubai for raising parliamentary questions in Lok Sabha. Therefore, Smt Mahua Moitra is guilty of unethical conduct, breach of her privileges available to members of Parliament and contempt of the House,” the panel said.

The 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.

Preneet Kaur, a suspended Congress parliamentarian, voted along with the ruling dispensation and backed the recommendation to expel Moitra, one of the most vocal lawmakers from the Opposition.