What Was Ethics Committee Report Recommendation On Mahua Moitra

The report by Parliament’s Ethics Committee on “cash for query” allegations against Mahua Moitra was tabled in the house by the panel Chairman and BJP MP Vijay Sonkar today. The Ethics Committee report recommended the expulsion of Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament Mahua Moitra from Lok Sabha and an investigation by the Government of India in time bound manner.

These are major recommendations by the Ethics Committee:

“The serious misdemeanours on the part of Mahua Moitra calls for severe punishment. The Committee, therefore, recommend that Mahua Moitra, MP may be expelled from the Membership of the Seventeenth Lok Sabha.”

“In view of highly objectionable, unethical, heinous and criminal conduct of Mahua Moitra, the Committee recommends for an intense, legal, institutional inquiry by the Government of India in a time-bound manner.”

The Ethics Committee report to the cash-for-query allegations against Ms Moitra comes amidst the claims by the Opposition and the TMC MP herself that the hearings by the Committee headed by ruling party MP was one sided.

The report, that recommends that Ms Moitra be expelled, has already caused furore in the Parliament and Opposition MPs were seen protesting against the move as it was tabled. The report allegedly found that Ms Moitra’s actions “highly objectionable, unethical, heinous and criminal”.

The allegation against the TMC MP was that she took bribe from businessman Darshan Hiranandani, son of Indian billionaire businessman Niranjan Hiranandani, in exchange for her raising the specific question in the Parliament.

Ms Moitra has found support from the Opposition including her boss West Bengal Chief Minister and the All-India Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, and she said that the controversy was a plan by the centre ruling BJP to remove the MP of her party from the Lok Sabha.

According to Mamata Banerjee, the allegations would only benefit Mahua Moitra to become more popular before the upcoming elections. She was addressing a gathering at the Netaji Indoor Stadium in Kolkata. “They have planned to chase out Mahua. She will become popular for three months”, said the CM on Thursday. “What she said inside… she will say outside. She will hold press conferences every day. What does she lose?”, Mamata Banerjee added.

Mahua Moitra, a fierce critic of Narendra Modi-led NDA government, is a former investment banker serving as Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, from West Bengal”s Krishnanagar.