TMC MLA Mahua Moitra wants to 'cross-examine' lawyer at ethics panel hearing

Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Mahua Moitra has said that she will appear before the Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha on Thursday (November 2) as per the panel's order in the ongoing cash-for-query row. 

Taking to X (formerly Twitter), she posted a two-page letter, in which she mentioned her wish to "cross-examine" Supreme Court lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai, who accused the MP of taking bribes for asking questions in Parliament. Moitra has also reiterated her demand to cross-examine businessman Darshan Hiranandani, who in a "sworn affidavit" alleged the MP of sharing her Parliament login details with him to ask questions in the House.

"Since Ethics Committee deemed it fit to release my summons to the media I think it is important I too release my letter to the Committee before my “hearing” tomorrow," Moitra wrote on X.

In the letter, the TMC MP said she wants to "place on record" about wanting to cross-examine Dehadrai and Hiranandani. "I wish to place on record that I am requesting the committee to answer in writing and place on record their decision to either allow or disallow such cross-examination," Moitra's X post read.

Furthermore, she questioned if the ethics panel is the right forum to probe such alleged criminality, claiming that only law enforcement agencies can investigate to avoid "slightest misuse of committees by governments enjoying a brute majority in Parliament".

Moitra added that if the ethics panel relies on any report sought from any department, she should also be given the copy of the document and should be allowed to cross-examine the department concerned.

The TMC MP, who had earlier requested a summon date after November 5, citing her pre-scheduled Vijaya Dashami programmes, said that it was "extremely surprising" that the ethics panel declined to approve the same. Commenting on this, she cited the example of BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri, who was summoned by the Lok Sabha's Privileges Committee on October 10 over a hate speech row with Bahujan Samaj Party's (BSP) Danish Ali, but was later permitted to appear at a later time as per his request.

Calling out the "double standards", Moitra said Bidhuri's example reeks of "political motives" and do little to enhance the credibility of privileges and ethics panels.