The report of the Ethics Committee on Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra in an alleged “cash-for-query” case will be tabled in the Lok Sabha on Friday as the Parliament meets on Day 5 of the current Winter Session.
“Chairperson Vinod Kumar Sonkar and Aparajita Sarangi to lay on the Table the First Report (Hindi and English versions) of the Committee on Ethics,” the agenda released by Lok Sabha read.
The report was included in the Lok Sabha’s list of items for discussion on the first day of the current Winter Session of Parliament. It could not, however, be pursued. Following a 500-page report that examined the charges brought forth by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey, the Ethics Committee recommended on November 9 that Moitra be removed from the 17th Lok Sabha due to her “highly objectionable, unethical, heinous and criminal conduct.”
In the panel last month, the draft report was approved by a vote of 6:4. Sources claim that Mahua Moitra visited the United Arab Emirates four times between 2019 and 2023, during which time her login was accessed multiple times, as documented in the draft report on her cash-for-questions case.
“On 47 occasions, her member portal login credentials were accessed from Dubai,” sources said citing the draft report of the ethics committee.
The TMC has demanded that the MP Mahua Moitra be given a chance to put forth her defence. TMC MP Sudip Bandyopadhyay said, “I spoke with the Speaker, and he said that this committee report along with other reports will be tabled. I said that TMC MP Mahua Moitra should be given a chance to speak…”
Union Communication Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw will move the Post Office Bill, 2023 for consideration and passage in the Lower House as part of the legislative business agenda in the interim. The Rajya Sabha has previously passed the bill.
Also, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharama will introduce a Bill to authorize payment and appropriation of certain further sums from and out of the Consolidated Fund of India for the services of the financial year 2023-2024.