Moitra created ruckus to avoid investigation: Ethics panel chief Vinod Sonkar

A day after Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra stormed out of the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee meeting on Thursday afternoon, accusing the committee’s chairperson Vinod Sonkar of asking the TMC leader unethical questions, Sonkar said that Moitra only created a ruckus to avoid giving answers during the investigation.

“Only those questions were asked to Mahua Moitra on which there are allegations. She was given the right to give answers to those questions she wanted and not give those she did not wish,” Sonkar told the reporters on Friday afternoon.

Sonkar alleged that the TMC MP was using anger to deflect legitimate questions and used “unparliamentary language against the panel and the chair”.

“Rather than doing this, only to create obstacles in the investigation, this ruckus was created by her. The kind of words she used for the chairman and members of the ethics committee do not suit an MP or a woman... She wanted to avoid giving answers and create obstacles in the investigation...”said Sonkar.

Moitra appeared before the Parliament Ethics Committee in connection with the ‘Cash-for-Query’ charge against her on Thursday.

However, she, along with other opposition members, stormed out of the meeting, accusing the panel’s chairmen of asking her “personal and unethical” and “filthy” questions.

“What kind of meeting was this? They are asking all kinds of filthy questions. They are picking on anything. Talking any rubbish,” Moitra told reporters outside the Parliament on Thursday.

Soon after, Moitra wrote to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla that the committee chairman subjected her to the proverbial “vastraharan” by his “unethical, sordid, and prejudiced questions”.

“I write to you in great anguish today to update you on the unethical, sordid, and prejudiced behaviour meted out to me at the hearing of the Ethics Committee by the Chairman. I have been subjected to the proverbial ‘vastraharan’ by him in the presence of all members of the Committee,” Moitra said in her letter.

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“The committee ought to designate itself under a name other than the Ethics Committee as it has no ethics and morality left. Instead of asking questions pertinent to the subject, the Chairman exhibited a preconceived bias by maliciously and clearly in a defamatory way questioning me, so much so that 5 of the 11 members present walked out and boycotted the proceedings in protest at his shameful conduct,” she said.

Hitting back, Sonkar said that objectionable words were used against the chairman and the members by Moitra.

“Instead of giving answers, she (Moitra) got angry and used unparliamentary language for the chairman and committee members. Danish Ali, Girdhari Yadav, and other opposition MPs tried to accuse the committee and walked out. The committee will sit and decide further action for such unparliamentary behaviour,” Sonkar said.

BJP MP Nishant Dubey extended his support for Vinod Sonkar on X and claimed that the TMC members made derogatory remarks against the panel chief and called him names like “Bihari goon” and “Jharkhandi dog”.

“Ethics committee chairman Vinod Sonkar ji, who comes from Scheduled Caste, is being abused in the committee, calling the MPs bastards in the Parliament, Bihari goon, Jharkhandi dog, if Mahua ji (MP), who sells national security for a few rupees of corruption, is a woman. If this is proof then kudos to the opposition MPs who are helping their corruption, at least they would have played the victim card properly,” he wrote on X in Hindi.

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Moitra is facing ‘Cash-for-Query’ charges made by Dubey, who alleged that the TMC MP had taken bribes from Dubai-based businessman Darshan Hiranandani to raise questions in Parliament targeting Adani Group and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

She has been accused of accepting money and favours to ask questions in Parliament and also giving her password and login to Hiranandani allegedly to target the Adani Group and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. If found guilty, she could be disqualified from the Lok Sabha.

The TMC leader has, however, rejected the charges and said she was open to any investigation.

The 15-member Lok Sabha Ethics panel – which comprises seven members from the BJP and six from the Opposition – will meet soon to prepare its report.