New Delhi : The complaint raised by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey alleging that Trinamool Congress MP Moitra received bribes in exchange for raising questions in Parliament on behalf of businessman Darshan Hiranandani, with the alleged intent to target the Adani group and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been sent to the Lok Sabha ethics committee.
Dubey's written complaint was addressed to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla and lists several serious charges against Moitra, including a breach of parliamentary privilege, contempt of the House, and criminal conspiracy. In his letter, Dubey claimed that Hiranandani paid a substantial sum of approximately Rs 2 crore and expensive gifts, including an iPhone, to Moitra, along with an additional Rs 75 lakh for contesting elections. The allegation further suggests that between 2019 and 2023, 50 out of 61 questions posed by Moitra in Parliament were at the behest of Darshan Hiranandani.
According to Dubey, Moitra granted Hiranandani access to her Lok Sabha account, allowing questions to be posted directly by either Hiranandani or herself. This accusation was supported by "painstaking research" conducted by advocate Jai Anand Dehadrai, who has also taken some of his allegations to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Moitra's questions in Parliament pertained to various topics, including oil and gas supply from Paradip, Dhamra Port, urea subsidy, steel prices affecting the real estate sector, and the powers of the Income Tax Department. Dubey has alleged that these questions were intended to advance the business interests of the Hiranandani Group, which had lost an energy and infrastructure contract to the Adani Group. It is, therefore, implied that Moitra's parliamentary actions were conducted to benefit her alleged benefactor, Darshan Hiranandani.
However, Moitra vehemently denied the allegations and expressed her willingness to cooperate with any inquiry into the matter. She retorted to Dubey's accusations by pointing out that multiple breach of privilege motions was pending against other BJP luminaries. She suggested that the inquiry against her should proceed only after the Speaker dealt with those cases, indicating a sense of political retaliation.
On the heels of this controversy, Union Minister for Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, weighed in, citing questions that Moitra had asked regarding data protection. He alleged that he had received queries from the Hiranandani Group on the same subject. In response, Moitra considered Chandrasekhar's comments an affront to her intelligence, asserting that her questions, which were raised as a member of the Joint Parliamentary Committee on Data Protection, were in the best interests of all Indians.
