The Lok Sabha ethics committee’s report recommending the expulsion of Trinamul MP Mahua Moitra on cash-for-query charges was not tabled in the House on Monday, apparently because the ruling BJP was unwilling to spoil the jubilatory mood over the Assembly poll victories.
“What is the hurry? The session has begun only today. We are now busy celebrating our stupendous victory in the three (heartland) states,” a BJP leader replied when asked why the report was not tabled.
The tabling of the report was listed in the Lok Sabha’s agenda for the day, and several Opposition members expressed surprise when it was not laid.
Trinamul’s leader in the Lok Sabha Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Congress member K. Suresh and RSP member N.K. Premchandran were seen asking the Chair during the afternoon session why the report was not being tabled.
BJP member Kirit Solanki, who was presiding over the proceedings when reports were being laid, had skipped mention of the ethics panel report, listed at No. 5, without citing any reason. Solanki didn’t reply to the queries of the Opposition leaders.
Moitra, who was present in the House, later told reporters that she would comment only after the report was tabled.
Congress Lok Sabha leader Adhir Chowdhury said: “I don’t know why they have not tabled (the report).”
BJP members chanted slogans in the Lok Sabha hailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the party’s victory in three heartland states, whose results were declared on Sunday. They asserted that the Assembly poll victories were a “guarantee for a Modi hat-trick in 2024”.
Of the 11 members of the ethics panel (including chairman Vinod Sonkar of the BJP), 6 had voted in favour of the report, paving the way for its adoption early last month. Four members of the panel, belonging to Opposition parties, submitted dissent notes.
Moitra can be expelled only if the House votes in favour of the panel’s recommendation.
The Opposition has termed the report a “fixed match”, aimed at expelling from the House on baseless charges an MP who had relentlessly attacked Modi and the Adani group, perceived as close to the Prime Minister.
BJP member Nishikant Dubey had forwarded to Speaker Om Birla the complaint against Moitra that accused her of accepting money to ask questions in Parliament.
