In what could be a huge setback to Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, the parliament ethics committee has reportedly recommended termination of her Lok Sbaha membership and a detailed probe into the cash-for-query allegations.
The panel, headed by BJP MP Vinod Kumar Sonkar, will meet on Thursday to adopt its draft report.
In it 500-page report, the committee has termed Moitra’s actions as “highly objectionable and unethical” and recommended a “legal, intensive, institutional and time-bound” investigation by the government into the matter, reported NDTV, which claimed to have accessed the document.
The report will be submitted to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla during the winter session of parliament.
Moitra has been in the middle of a political storm ever since BJP MP Nishikant Dubey accused her of taking bribes from businessman Darshan Hiranadani for asking questions in parliament targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and industrialist Gautam Adani.
Dubey also alleged that the TMC MP had compromised the national interest by sharing the login details of her Lok Sabha account with Hiranandani, an “outsider”.
Moitra, a staunch critic of Modi and the BJP, admitted that she had shared her login details with Hiranandani, but dismissed allegations of a quid pro quo, saying the businessman has long been a close friend of her.
The Trinamool MP deposed herself before the panel on November 2, but stormed out of the meeting in the midway, along with some opposition members, accusing its chairman of asking personal and unethical questions.
“I have been subjected to the proverbial 'vastraharan' by him in the presence of all members of the Committee," she later said in a letter to the Speaker.
There were indications that the committee is likely to take a grim view of the conduct of Moitra, though the opposition members are expected to submit their dissent notes.
Congress sources told PTI that its members N. Uttam Kumar Reddy and V. Vaithilingam will submit dissent notes during Thursday’s proceedings. BSP member Kunwar Danish Ali is also set to submit his dissent note, the report said.
It is not clear whether Reddy, who is contesting the upcoming Telangana assembly elections and is scheduled to file his nomination on Thursday, will physically attend the proceedings.
Moitra on Tuesday alleged that the panel meeting, earlier scheduled on November 7, was delayed to keep the Congress MP away and adopt the report by a majority.
The 15-member committee has seven members from the BJP, three from the Congress, and one each from BSP, Shiv Sena, YSRCP, CPI(M) and JDU.