BJP member of parliament from Jharkhand, Nishikant Dubey, and Trinamul counterpart from Bengal, Mahua Moitra, are in a public spat. Yet again. What’s new?

Dubey on Sunday accused Moitra of taking cash to ask questions in the Lok Sabha and wrote to Speaker Om Birla seeking an inquiry.

Moitra responded with alacrity, and multiple times, posting on X.

Dubey demanded the “immediate suspension” of Moitra, alleging “bribes were exchanged between her and businessman Darshan Hiranandani to ask questions in Parliament” and target Prime Minister Narendra Modi by “constantly referencing him to the Adani Group”.

The BJP member claimed that he had “irrefutable evidence” provided by a lawyer, and had submitted it to the Speaker.

Moitra, who has been steadfastly raising questions about the Adani group’s business deals and seeking a probe into them, said she welcomed any inquiry against her but only after the disposal of the charges she had earlier levelled at Dubey and the Adani group.

Moitra had earlier accused Dubey of obtaining “fake degrees” and submitting “false affidavits” in his election nomination forms, and demanded an inquiry against him for breach of privilege in the Lok Sabha.

She referred to all of these charges again on Sunday after news agencies put out reports on Dubey’s letter to Birla.

“Multiple breach of privileges pending against fake degreewala & other @BJP4India luminaries. Welcome any motions against me right after Speaker finishes dealing with those,” Moitra posted on Sunday.

“Please @ombirlakota @loksabhaspeaker finish the enquiries against him for false affidavits against him (Nishikant) and then set up an enquiry committee,” she said in another post.

Moitra also dared the CBI and the Enforcement Directorate to first investigate her charges against the Adani group before proceeding against her.

“Also welcome @CBIHeadquarters enquiry into my alleged money laundering right after they finish investigating Adani’s offshore money trail, over invoicing, benami accounts,” the MP from Krishnanagar, Bengal, posted on X. “Also waiting for @dir_ed & others to file FIR in Adani coal scam before coming to my doorstep.”

The Hiranandani group also dismissed the allegations as “without merit”, telling NDTV: “We have always been in the business of business and not in the business of politics. Our group has always worked with the goverment in the intesrest of the nation and will continue doing so.”

In his letter to the Speaker, Dubey drew a parallel between his accusations against Moitra and the 2005 “cash for query” scandal in Parliament.

“After having meticulously gone through all the papers/ documents there is not an iota of doubt about a criminal conspiracy hatched by Smt Mahua Moitra...,” Dubey wrote.

He claimed that a clear case of “Breach of Privilege, Contempt of the House and also a criminal offence under Sec 120-A of IPC” was established against the Trinamul MP. Section 120A defines criminal conspiracy.

Moitra, an outspoken MP, has faced allegations of flouting the party line and has therefore not always been in the good books of Trinamul’s top leaders.

Most party leaders, however, believe that she should get the full backing of the leadership on the latest charges.

“Nishikant Dubey is the number one trouble creator in Parliament,” Trinamul’s leader in the Lok Sabha, Sudip Bandyopadhyay, said.

“This must be a deliberate attempt by the BJP to malign our women MPs…. The individual MP is battling the charge and the party will stand by her firmly.”

Additional reporting by Devadeep Purohit