New Delhi: Following the expulsion of Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra from Lok Sabha in ‘cash for query’ matter, Bhubaneswar MP Aparajita Sarangi on Friday said it is lesson for all Parliamentarians, who are expected to follow certain rules.
“This is a lesson for all MPs. As MPs, we are sworn to the Constitution of India and are supposed to follow certain rules….the whole country is watching us as we represent lakhs of people in the biggest panchayat of the country,” the BJP MP, who was a member of the Ethics Committee, which on November 9 adopted its report recommending Mahua’s expulsion from Lok Sabha.
Elaborating further, Aparajita said that in case of the TMC MP, immorality was visible because of which she was expelled from Lok Sabha. “The panel held three meetings during which the complainant and defendants were summoned. They were allowed to put forth their case. We gave them all a patient hearing. We also studied the affidavit of businessman Darshan Hiranandani. Following which the 500-page draft report was prepared and adopted by a 6:4 majority,” she stressed.
The TMC MP was accused of asking questions in Lok Sabha to target the Adani Group at the behest of Hiranandani in exchange for gifts.
The Ethics Committee, in its report, had declared that “taking gifts from (a) businessman to whom she handed over log-in (details) amounts to a quid pro quo… (which is) unbecoming of an MP and is unethical conduct”.
Accepting gifts, like “luxury items” and the use of a car, and such “serious misdemeanours… call for severe punishment”, it said while recommending that the MP may be “expelled from the membership of the Seventeenth Lok Sabha”.
The panel also called for “a legal institutional inquiry by the Government… in view of unethical, heinous, and criminal conduct of Smt Moitra…,” the NDTV reported.
Media reports further said that Mahua visited the UAE four times from 2019 to 2023 while her Parliament login credentials were accessed several times. “On 47 occasions, her member portal login credentials were accessed from Dubai,” news agency ANI said quoting a source.
It also quoted from Hiranandani’s statement, in which he said, “… demands that were made, and favours that were asked, included gifting her expensive luxury items, providing support on renovation of her officially allotted bungalow in Delhi, travel expenses, holidays…”
The opposition members, however, termed the report a “fixed match” and said the complaint was not supported by a “shred of evidence”.
