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Parliament Winter Session: Cash-for-query report on Mahua Moitra to be in focus
The probe report by the Lok Sabha Ethics Panel will be submitted to the Lok Sabha Speaker today.
The Parliament is set to convene for the Winter Session on Monday, and the first order of business will likely be the discussion on the cash-for-query row involving Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra. The Ethics Committee of Lok Sabha had probed the allegations and reportedly recommended her expulsion from the lower house of the parliament.
The probe report by the Lok Sabha Ethics Panel will be submitted to the Lok Sabha Speaker today.
The Bills to be tabled on the opening day of the Winter Session include one to regulate the appointments for the Chief Election Commission and other election commissioners. The government held an all-party meeting on Saturday for the smooth functioning of the session, which will have 15 sittings between December 4 and December 22.
Meanwhile, Congress has said that they will use the first day of the Winter Session to raise issues concerning the people of the nation and demand a discussion on the Ethics Committee's report on Mahua Moitra.
"Congress does not believe in taking away the rights of Parliamentarians. Congress believes that the membership of those elected by the public should not be taken away by any committee. There should be a discussion on this," Congress member Pramod Tewari told PTI.
Trinamool Congress leaders believe that the Ethics Committee report has already been "leaked to the media" and that one member of the Trinamool Congress is "going to be expelled," hinting at a Mahua Moitra' potential expulsion from the Lok Sabha.
Earlier in November, opposition party leaders walked out of the panel's meeting in solidarity with Mahua Moitra, alleging that the chairperson was asking "unethical" and "filthy" questions.
Mahua Moitra's 'cash for query' case
The controversy regarding the 'cash for query' case broke out when BJP MP Nishikant Dubey -- based on a letter -- raised allegations on TMC MP Mahua Moitra of accepting bribes from businessman Darshan Hiranandani in exchange for raising questions in Parliament.
The letter and allegations were based on a complaint made by advocate Jai Dehadrai, Mahua Moitra's former partner. Hiranandani and Dehadrai both deposed before the ethics panel of the Lok Sabha.
(With inputs from PTI)
