Senior TMC MP Mahua Moitra, who is embroiled in the cash-for-query scandal, has sought permission from the Lok Sabha Ethics Committee to 'cross-examine' industrialist Darshan Hiranandani, who is said to have bribed her, and lawyer Jai Dehadrai, who has provided the evidence against her.
Moitra is expected to make an appearance before the committee which is probing the cash-for-query complaint filed against her by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, on Thursday. Dubey had cited "irrefutable evidence" presented by advocate Jai Anant Dehadra while accusing Moitra of taking bribes from businessman Darshan Hiranandani to target the Adani Group.
Dubey and Dehadrai have already given their "oral evidence" to the panel against her.
In her letter to the committee, which she shared on social media platform X, Moitra alleged that the panel did not accede to her request to postpone her appearance to any day after November 5 and forced her to appear on a date that clashed with her "constituency commitments."
Referring to the case on the use of unparliamentary words by BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri directed at BSP MP Danish Ali, Moitra said the panel had a "different approach" to the BJP MP. "I wish to place on record that these double standards reek of political motives and do little to enhance the credibility of the Privileges and Ethics branch," she alleged.
Stating that the complainant, Dehadrai, has provided no documented evidence against her, Moitra asked the permission of the committee to cross-examine Dehadrai. She also urged the panel to summon the alleged "bribe-giver" Hiranandani to depose before it and provide the evidence.
"I wish to place on record that in keeping with the principles of natural Justice I wish to exercise my right to cross-examine Hiranandani," she added.
The MP also questioned the jurisdiction of the committee in investigating alleged criminality. "There is also the question of whether the Ethics committee is the appropriate forum to examine alleged criminality. I wish to respectfully remind you that Parliamentary Committees do not have criminal jurisdiction and have no mandate to investigate alleged criminality. This check was specifically created by our nation's founders to prevent even the slightest misuse of Committees by the government enjoying a brute majority in Parliament" the TMC MP wrote.