Mahua Moitra should vacate bungalow, Lok Sabha panel writes to Housing Ministry

Days after Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra was expelled from the Lok Sabha over cash-for-query allegations, the Housing Committee of Parliament wrote to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to direct the TMC leader to vacate her official bungalow.

Moitra was expelled from the Lok Sabha on December 8 after the House adopted the report of its Ethics Committee that held her guilty of accepting gifts and illegal gratification from a businessman to ask questions in the parliament.

The Ethics Committee probe, initiated on the complaint filed by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, found Moitra guilty of "unethical conduct" and contempt of the House by sharing her Lok Sabha website login credentials, with unauthorised persons. The panel noted that such acts had an irrepressible impact on national security.

Dubey accused Moitra of asking questions in the Lok Sabha to target the Adani Group and Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the behest of businessman Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for gifts.

The motion stated, the Trinamool MP's "conduct has further been found to be unbecoming as a member of parliament for accepting gifts and illegal gratification from a businessman to further his interest which is a serious misdemeanour and highly deplorable conduct" on her part.

Meanwhile, on Monday, Mahua Moitra approached the Supreme Court stating that the decision to expel her from Lok Sabha was "illegal".

Speaking to reporters after her explosion, the 49-year-old leader had equated the action with hanging by a "kangaroo court". She also alleged that a parliamentary panel was being weaponised by the government to force the opposition into submission.