High drama prevailed at the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee meeting on Thursday followed by Trinamul Congress MP Mahua Moitra, accused of accepting bribes for asking questions in Parliament, storming out of the meeting when she was heard accusing the committee, specifically its chairman Vinod Kumar Sonkar, of asking “all sorts of filthy questions” and calling the exercise “shameful”.
At least three opposition MPs who formed part of the 14-member ethics panel, N Uttam Kumar Reddy of the Congress, Danish Ali of the BSP and Giridharilal Yadav of the RJD, were also seen walking out of the deposition meeting in expression of solidarity with Moitra. The protesting MPs alleged that the committee, which is supposed to be probing charges of violation of ethical behaviour of a woman MP, “acted in an unethical manner” during the questioning session.
Sonkar, however, counter-alleged that the walkout was a face-saving tactic orchestrated by Moitra to “avoid answering questions relevant to the probe”. “The committee will sit and decide on its next course of action,” the chairman said after emerging from the meeting with other panel members about an hour after Moitra left.
“The committee chairman asked a woman MP all kinds of unethical and personal questions having no links with the cash for questions probe. It was akin to the humiliation of Draupadi. We have walked out in protest,” an agitated Ali said, while walking out of the meeting chambers at the Parliament’s annex building. “He asked for details of her night-time phone conversations and phone call records, details of her hotel stay during her overseas travels, who she travelled with and who paid for her hotel bills. He even asked who else stayed in the hotels during her foreign visits. How are these related to the issue of whether or not she accepted bribes?” the BSP MP screamed.
“The chairman’s line of questioning Moitra wasn’t fair or objective. It sounded like he was acting on somebody’s behest,” Reddy chipped in. “His questions were prejudicial, biased and undignified. We had been trying to tell him from the start of the day to not follow this line of questioning, but he wouldn’t listen,” the Congress MP alleged.
Asked what were the roles of the BJP members of the panel when such questions were being asked, Reddy said: “They remained silent. There were a few women MPs in the committee as well and they too kept their mouths shut.”
Questioning the integrity of the ethics panel, the protesting MPs asked how BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, a complainant, managed to get hold of a “confidential” report of the National Informatics Centre (NIC) stating that Moitra’s Parliamentary login was accessed 47 times from Dubai and even put it out in public domain on Wednesday when that report was only made available to committee members a day later.
“The objective of the committee was to probe the charges slapped on Moitra. Instead of cooperating with the probe, she threw a fit of anger and used unparliamentary words on the committee and its chairman. Her demeanour at the session was echoed by the opposition MPs who joined her in the walkout staged by the accused,” Sonkar maintained.
Meanwhile, talking to reporters at his official residence after Moitra’s walkout, Dubey compared the behaviour of the opposition MPs with that of the “misbehaviour of Congress MPs during the probe of 2G scam”. “This house where I currently live and every bit of furniture in it is owned by the central government. I am but a temporary resident and a rent payee to the government. Similarly, the email-IDs and the parliamentary portals are properties of the central government maintained by the NIC and no MP can claim them as their personal property,” he reasoned.
“There is an email and password policy for the MPs in place since 2014 and the onus of not knowing about it falls on the ignorant MP. If the allegation is of selling one’s integrity and jeopardising the country's security, then how can questions asked in relation to that be called ‘personal’?” the BJP MP maintained.
Dubey alleged that Moitra tried to create a false narrative about the proceedings and that the Opposition was irked that the ethics panel was headed by an OBC MP.
"No power can save Moitra after all evidence provided by me and others against her," he said.
Earlier in the day, Moitra reached the meeting venue 10 minutes prior to the scheduled time of 11 AM. Sources confirmed Moitra pleaded not guilty to the 'cash-for-query' charge levelled against her and told the committee that the charge was driven by the animosity of advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai after she broke her personal relations with him. The Trinamul MP also reportedly claimed that the Adani Group was behind the "bogus" charges on account of her consistent criticism of the business group.
While the first half of the questioning session, which entailed two-and-a-half hours of recording of statements of IT experts and Moitra, went without a glitch, tempers flew during the second half post-lunch break when the committee chairman began cross-examining the accused MP, it was learned.
While no confirmation was received about the next course of action from either the panel or its detractors, sources said that the opposition MPs could approach Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla for intervention.
