Mahua Moitra expelled: How BJP's Nishikant Dubey exposed TMC leader

Mahua Moitra expelled: Nishikant Dubey made allegations against Mahua Moitra based on a letter that he got from Supreme Court lawyer Jai Anant Dehadrai.

Mahua Moitra Expelled News: Mahua Moitra was on Friday expelled as a Lok Sabha MP after a discussion on the report of the ethics committee in the ‘cash for query’ that was tabled in the Lower House.

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and TMC leader Mahua Moitra

It was Nishikant Dubey of the Bharatiya Janata Party who made sensational allegations in October against his Trinamool Congress counterpart in the Lok Sabha Mahua Moitra of taking a bribe for asking questions in Parliament and has sought an investigation into them.

In his letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla, Union IT minister Ashwini Vaishnaw and his minister of state (MoS) Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Dubey demanded the setting up of a probe committee to determine if the charges levelled against her were true.

Dubey made the allegations based on a letter by Jai Anant Dehadrai, a Supreme Court lawyer, that he received, in which “irrefutable evidence of bribes” exchanged between Moitra and businessman Darshan Hiranandani, the CEO of the real-estate conglomerate Hiranandani Group, was mentioned. The BJP MP claimed that the allegations are reminiscent of the December 2005 'Cash for Query Scandal'.

The TMC MP, however, has dismissed the charges as a “jilted ex's lies”, a reference to Dehadrai. She also took a jibe at Dubey after the BJP MP wrote a fresh letter to the IT ministry, asking Ashwini Vaishnaw to release the location and login details of all MPs.

How Nishikant Dubey exposed Mahua Moitra:

• Nishikant Dubey, citing Jai Anant Dehadrai's letter, alleged that 50 questions out of 61 that the Mahua Moitra asked in Parliament until recently were all asked with the intent of “protecting or perpetuating business interests” of Darshan Hiranandani and his conglomerate. The Supreme Court lawyer alleged that these questions often focused on the Adani Group, a rival conglomerate of Hiranandani and were asked in return for cash and gifts.
• Dehadrai claimed that Moitra has “vehemently” targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah in the past few years, often referencing the Adani group, to create an impression that she was “critical of the government”. This, the allegation stated, was possibly done with the intention of seeking cover against her “clandestine criminal operation”.
• Dubey claimed in his letter that “the representationist has forwarded all the papers and documents in support of information” and he was enclosing them.
• "Now, with the unmasking of quid pro quo in the form of ugly and deliberate motive of Smt Mahua Moitra, to raise money from a businessman in leu of asking questions in Lok Sabha, targeting another business Group, it has become amply clear that the edifice of 'morality' being exhibited by Smt Mahua Moitra was nothing but a 'Machiavellian Camouflage' for committing a crime by entering into a criminal conspiracy and at the same time enjoying the title given to Smt Mahua Moitra: as a firebrand Member of Parliament' which is nothing but a sham" said the letter from Dubey.
• The letter alleges that the "instant episode is nothing but a re-emergence of 'cash for query'.
• It said that when a similar episode happened on December 12, 2005, during the 14th Lok Sabha, the then Speaker immediately constituted an Inquiry Committee on December 12 , 2005, itself and subsequently 10 members were expelled from the membership of Lok Sabha on December 23, 2005 in 23 days.
• In his post on X Nishikant Dubey alleged that there had been an exchange of several gifts. "This very house cancelled membership of 11 MPs in 'cash for questions'. Today also this theft will not work. One businessman is bad for them, but they have no qualms in taking 35 pairs of shoes from the other. Like Mrs (Imelda) Marcos the Hermes, LV, Gucci bag, purse, clothes and hawala money will not work. The membership will go, please wait" the BJP MP said.