Unethical, personal questions asked: Mahua Moitra, Oppn members storm out of LS Ethics panel meet

New Delhi: The Lok Sabha Ethics Committee meeting probing allegations against Mahua Moitra witnessed high drama on Thursday as Opposition MPs, along with the Trinamool Congress lawmaker, storming out of it, accusing panel chairperson Vinod Sonkar of asking her personal questions.

Sonkar countered the Opposition MPs’ allegations after the meeting and said Mahua “got angry and used unparliamentary language” against him and other members instead of responding to questions. He said the committee will decide the future course of action soon.

Later, Mahua shot off a letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla about the “unethical, sordid and prejudiced behaviour” and the “proverbial ‘vastraharan’ by him (Sonkar)” while exhibiting a “preconceived bias by maliciously and clearly in a defamatory way” of questioning.

MPs N Uttam Kumar Reddy and Ve Vaithilingam (Congress), Danish Ali (BSP), PR Natarajan (CPI-M) and Giridhari Yadav of the JD(U), along with Moitra, staged an angry walkout after Sonkar, a BJP MP, asked about her travels, phone records, and details about her meetings, according to the Opposition MPs.

Moitra was summoned by the panel to question her on complaints filed by BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and her former partner Jai Anant Dehadrai. During her deposition, she pleaded innocence on charges of taking cash and gifts for asking questions in Parliament and alleged that it was motivated by Dehadrai’s hostility towards her after she broke her relationship with him.

"We found the conduct of the ethics committee chairperson unethical and undignified. The line of questioning seemed to suggest that he was asking the questions at someone's behest. It is very, very bad," Reddy told reporters, as the MPs stormed out of the meeting.

BJP MP Aparajita Sarangi, an Ethics Committee member, objected to Mahua and other Opposition MPs making public the confidential proceedings of the panel.

“She should not have done that. The conduct of Mahua Moitra was condemnable. She used unparliamentary words for the chairman and for all the members. The chairperson was asking questions regarding the contents of the affidavit by Darshan Hiranandani and she did not want to answer them and then they created a ruckus,” she said.

Dubey described the developments as a “black day in Parliamentary history” and alleged that it happened as the Opposition MPs could not digest how a Dalit – Sonkar – had become the Ethics Committee chief.

“They are making unnecessary statements against him…She tried to present a misleading narrative to the public...What happened today is the darkest day of parliamentary history,” he told reporters.

Ali accused the chairperson of asking "irrelvant" questions like who she was talking to regularly and who were paying her hotel bills while Yadav said questions were personal in nature and they do not have the right to ask personal questions.

Reddy added, "For two days we have been asking him some things. We asked him about Parliamentary rules related to NIC. There is no reply. He is asking her where are you travelling? Where are you meeting? Can you give us your phone records? This is undignified."

The Congress MP said there is no evidence to suggest transfer of cash and that Mahua is "unfairly targeted". He also asked how complainant Dubey got hold of information in a confidential report submitted by the NIC to the committee.

Earlier in the day, sources said Mahua focussed most of her deposition on explaining her relationship with Dehadrai, who she blamed for the leaks and allegations. Opposition MPs supported her although BJP MPs like V D Sharma are learnt to have asked her to focus on the allegations and not make it about a relationship going bad.