It was after BJP MP Nishikant Dubey’s letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla that the parliament ethics committee examined the cash-for-query allegations against Trinamool Congress member Mahua Moitra and later recommended her expulsion from the house.
Moitra was expelled on Friday after the lower house adopted the committee report.
However, Dubey says it was a ‘sad day’ for him. Asked if he was happy after the action against Moitra, the BJP MP told news agency ANI: "What is the happiness in this? The expulsion of a parliamentarian for corruption and on the issue of national security gives me pain. Yesterday, it was not a happy day, but a sad day."
Dubey had accused Moitra of taking bribes from businessman Darshan Hiranadani for asking questions in parliament targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and industrialist Gautam Adani. He 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”.
In its 479-page report, the ethics committee recommended Moitra's expulsion from the lower house for "unethical conduct" and "contempt of the House".
In her first reaction to her expulsion, Moitra said there was no evidence of cash or gifts anywhere and that the ethics panel’s findings were solely based on the written testimonies of two persons, whose versions “contradict each other in material terms”.
The Trinamool Congress leader also said there are no rules governing the sharing of logins.
